


Unfinished Business

by coffeedependent



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Armin Arlert is a Tease, Badass Armin Arlert, Cute Eren Yeager, Eren Yeager is a Little Shit, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Good Parent Carla Yeager, Good Parent Grisha Yeager, Good Sibling Zeke Yeager, High School Student Eren Yeager, I'm Bad At Tagging, Jock Reiner Braun, Kinky Armin Arlert, M/M, Mafia Boss!Armin Arlert, Mikasa Ackerman & Eren Yeager Are Siblings, Minor Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith, Modern Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Older Armin Arlert, Parents Levi & Erwin Smith, Sassy Armin Arlert, Scout Regiment, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan Anime Spoilers, Shy Bertolt Hoover, Slow Burn, This Is STUPID, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:28:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29826360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeedependent/pseuds/coffeedependent
Summary: All Eren Jaeger wanted to do was take the trash out at his job. Somehow that ended with a target on his back and an infamous gang trying to kill him.At least the heir, Armin Arlert, was pretty cute, right?
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager
Comments: 73
Kudos: 149





	1. Eren Prefers Guy Fieri Over Serving Justice

“Listen, kid, I’m gonna need you to describe everything you saw.”

Eren shifted his eyes to the police officer on the bed, shrugging. 

“I’ve already told you everything I know,” he responded, turning his attention back to the TV mounted on the wall. Guy Fieri was eating at this burger place in Wisconsin, but the pulled pork sandwich looked more like vomit than something edible. The screen turned black, making Eren irrationally angry.

“Dude, can’t you see I’m busy right now?”

“Yeah, so busy sitting in a hospital bed,” The officer rolled his eyes once again, running a hand through his hair. It was a terrible bowl cut and was really unfortunate for an adult. “There has to be something you’re leaving out, kid. You said that your attackers had matching branding on the wrists and it looked like this?” Officer Marlowe, as he introduced himself initially, flipped the same sketchbook towards Eren to inspect. The two wings laid cross inside of a shield, but the last Eren had saw the crest, it was burned into his attackers’ skin. Eren nodded his head the same way he did the first time, looking bored.

“Listen, Eren. I know you want me out of your hair, but it just doesn’t make sense why members of the Scouts would just leave a kid like you hanging.” Actually regarding the hair situation, Eren just wanted the poor guy to go to SuperCuts. Seriously, he'd never seen a bowl cut so precise. Do you think he gets someone special to make it so straight and neat? Seriously, it's as straight as a star quarterback on the high school team- who usually turned out to be gay but that's beside the point.

“Maybe they were rookies, who knows? I don’t, now can you leave me alone before I call my mom?” Marlowe went to talk more, but as his mouth opened to speak, so did Eren’s.

“Eren, you gotta-” Eren cut him off, humming a drawn out “Maw” sound.

“Eren, please-”

“Mmo-” Marlowe shut his mouth quickly once again before swallowing and saying his entire sentence quickly even though Eren drowned him out the second he started to speak.

_“Eren, this is a dangerous notorious gang we need to know more about!_ ”

 _“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!”_ Eren's loud screech that interrupted him was too loud to hear anything else.

Mrs. Jaeger ran in, cradling her son’s bandaged head to her chest. She pointed an accusing finger at Officer Marlowe, who turned his attention to the uncooperative, smug looking teenager that laid in her chest. Carla Jaeger began to question the officer, yelling at him to leave to which he did pleasantly. He got back in the cop car, throwing his hat against the center console and sighing.

“Bad day at work?” His partner, Hitch, teased him. 

“It’s not every day the victim threatens to yell for his mom the second you start speaking,” which made Hitch laugh but Marlowe continued to groan.

Gang activity was uncommon for a place like Trost, especially since it was a larger city with more people and it was easy to get caught. But somehow, since last year, the same crest of two wings haunted and loomed over the Trost Police Department as there was never any leads brought up, puzzling even its best detectives and in a few months, they would be forced to hand the case over to the FBI.

That was until Eren Jaeger was attacked in the alley behind his workplace but was then left _alive._ Finally, after nearly a year of searching, they had a witness who had firsthand experiences with the “Scouts”. When Eren told his story to the police initially, they were surprised that his body didn’t have the crest engraved anywhere on him, or even the word ‘Scout’ carved somewhere. He was left slightly beaten up but relatively untouched, uncommon for them. The attack itched Marlowe’s head even as he drove back to the Police Department. If Trost needed anything right now, it was for Eren to be cooperative.

Not that Eren cared though, because now who was watching Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives without the interruption from a stupid cop with a bad haircut? Oh yeah, that’s right, _him._

“That looks so good, I’d fuck that shit upp,” Eren groaned, looking at the freshly glazed donut that appeared on the TV screen. He then let out a ‘yip!’ when Carla flicked his cheek, muttering a quick, _‘You’re lucky you’re in the hospital and I’m not wearing sandals.’_

In all honesty, Eren knew he was being a huge dick. Yes, he could help solve many cases and yada yada yada, but he didn’t care. I mean, his attack happened less than a week ago, could you blame him for not wanting to relive the experience? All he wanted to do was take the damn trash out, not get caught up in a drug deal and get the shit beat out of him. He was lucky that his tall, intimidating manager Miche came out to his rescue and scared the attackers off and quickly called for an ambulance when he realized that Eren was bleeding on the back of his head.

Eren didn’t take this for granted either, contrary to popular opinion from the police station. He realized he was lucky to live and frankly, he found it slightly humorous at his attackers. Such low blow to the Scouts, he thought. It was kinda embarrassing, letting such a hit go to your reputation due to some rookies in the ranks.

-

Watching Food Network could only be entertaining for so long, Eren discovered, so he was glad to be discharged from the hospital two days later. His wispy brown hair was still encased in a bandage that went around his head, which needed to annoyingly be changed every four hours by his mom to check for the healing process. The second he got home, he ate a real lunch (not hospital food, thank god) and bounded upstairs, plopping down on his bed and grabbing his phone on the nightstand. He had never gotten so many texts before, he noted as he scrolled through the device. He saw what he expected, texts from his immediate friends, even a sentimental one from Jean who he would definitely tease about it the next time he saw him. The surprising texts came from Marco Bodt, the sweet kid who hung around Jean for some unknown reason, and other people like Historia Reiss, cheerleader captain, and Porco Galliard, who he knew vaguely through his older brother’s best friend, Yelena.

He texted back his immediate friends, updating them on his situation and sending nice texts with a smiling emoticon to those he didn’t know too well but still didn’t want to seem like an asshole. He flipped his phone down and he closed his eyes, only from them to shoot open five minutes later when his door burst open, revealing his adopted sister who had just gotten home from school.

Mikasa was across the room and at Eren’s side in a flash, sitting him up and crying into his chest.

“Ma-Mom and Dad wouldn’t let m-me or Zeke come and,” Mikasa coughed and sputtered through her tears,”see you!” She wailed, clutching onto her brother tightly as her tears ran. Eren had to admit, him and Mikasa often quarreled as siblings do, but he did miss her so. He let her cling onto him, rubbing her back as she sniffled in his arms. They were both sixteen now, but Mikasa was officially adopted by Eren’s parents when she was nine after her parents, close family friends, were killed in a hit-and-run accident. Being Mikasa’s godparents, Grisha and Carla Jaeger welcomed her with open arms and her and Eren remained very close as they grew together during their adolescent years. A knock sounded at the door a few minutes later and Eren looked up, seeing his older brother at the door.

Mikasa let go momentarily to let Zeke hug his half-brother, who’s actions usually spoke louder than his words. The senior just sat there, and then patted his younger brother’s back, saying it was good to have him back home and that he wanted to go out and play catch sometime in the near future once Eren’s bandages were off.

“Oh, by the way,” the blonde pulled away, revealing an envelope from his back pocket and motioning for Mikasa to come help him prep the table for dinner in order to let Eren rest, “you got mail. It’s from some college about how to do college apps, I think.”

As Eren was a junior in highschool, his AP classes made him and the other students sign up for programs that had colleges sending him multiple letters on how to get into colleges and opportunities to tour campuses. They never meant much to Eren, since they were automated and sent to everyone else, but once his siblings left he opened the letter regardless.

He pulled out the simple piece of paper, looking at it confused as this _definitely_ wasn’t anything college related. He opened the paper carefully, seeing a letter written in classic, neat cursive with red ink.

_To the dearest Eren Jaeger,_

_I have written to you to formally apologize for your attack last Wednesday on January 29th. It was completely unprofessional of my men to leave the job unfinished, but I assure you that they will come to finish it soon. Best wishes for the rest of your days and I can’t wait to meet you in person xx_

_Sincerely and with bunches of love,_

_-E_

Next to the initial, the Scout logo was messily doodled in the same red pen. Eren dropped the letter, clutching a hand over his mouth and running to the bathroom. He emptied the contents of his stomach into the bathroom down the hall, hearing his mom come in and begin to rub his back as he dry heaved. She questioned him, feeling his forehead for fever, but her words processed slowly as Eren was too lost in his own thoughts.

The Scouts were coming to finish the job.


	2. Erwin and Levi are Surprisingly Good Parents

“Fancy seeing you here, kid,” Marlowe started, offering Eren a paper cup of water before sitting down across the interrogation table. The brunette rolled his eyes, keeping his arms crossed.

“I see you haven’t gotten a better hair cut,” The arrogant highschooler nodded to the officer, taking a tentative sip of water. On the other side of the tinted, soundproof glass, Hitch was laughed her ass off while Dot Pixis, current lead investigator of trying to track the Scout Regiment, watched intently.

“I like him,” Dot said to the girl who was making attempts to collect herself, nodding to the teenager, “let’s hope he stays cooperative this time around.”

Marlowe pulled out a recorder, informing Eren on how their conversation would be recorded and would be used in future cases as evidence regarding the ongoing attempt to capture the Scouts. Eren just sighed, giving a feeble _‘whatever’_ and motioning for Marlowe to just start already. Frankly, he was bored and had a new episode of the Guy Fieri’s Triple D to watch today so he wanted to get home as fast as possible.

“Ok. So, please start off by saying your full, legal name along with your age and the current city you live in.”

Eren huffed, leaning back in his chair, “Uh, the name is Eren Alexander Jaeger. I’m sixteen years old and I’ve lived in Shiganshina all my life until my dad got transferred to be head doctor at Trost's main hospital.” Officer Marlowe nodded, satisfied with the easy answer as previously getting the information at the hospital was similar to pulling teeth from the kid.

“Can you please, in detail, describe your encounter with your attackers?”

The brunette looked down, twiddling his thumbs in his lap. A small silence came as Eren swallowed down the bile he felt form in his throat; remembering the attack is somewhat painful. He knew he would never really be ready for it, and Marlowe gave him a look of sympathy. Despite the way the kid was a complete asshole, he was still a kid that’s life has now been flipped completely upside down. The officer was pretty sure that two weeks ago, Eren didn’t expect himself to be on the radar for a gang that had been terrorizing the large city, so he understood Eren’s silence and told the teen to take his time, who just nodded.

“So basically what happened was I went to take out the trash and I got attacked,” Eren said it swiftly, not even considering if it was clear enough for anyone to decipher. Marlowe sighed, rubbing at his jawline.

“We need every detail, Eren. I’m going to ask you to try again.”

Eren found himself scoffing again. Well, he said it once, so he could say it again in greater detail, right?

“I work at a computer repair shop on Titan Avenue,” the brunette started shakily, “I’ve been working there after school for the past seven months. We had spare parts that were no longer of use, so I did my job and took out the trash.” He closed his eyes and swallowed heavily before continuing.

“The dumpster is in the back alley, but when I got out there, two sketchy guys looked as if they were doing something suspicious. I really didn’t care what was going on, I just didn’t want it near the shop so that we didn’t get a bad reputation or anything. I told them to get lost, but that was when they started sprinting straight at me.” The brunette opened his eyes wide, trembling as his story continued. He could still see them flying over him like hawks, running circles around him in midair.

“It was terrifying,” he recalled. “They have these- these guns. When they went to punch me, I saw this weird metal contraption that ran up their sleeve,” the brunette motioned up his arms, “and it freaked me out, y’know? Because these guys didn’t aim the gun at me- they aimed it at the top of the _building_. And then they pulled the trigger, but a grappling hook shot out and they were lifted in the sky. I’ve never seen a contraption like it, but it was scary as hell.”

Eren took a breath to wipe his eyes and Marlowe wrote down notes as fast as his hand could go, eyebrows furrowed at the mention of the new technology that was unheard of by the general public.

“Listen, Eren, right now isn’t the time to be pulling tricks-”

_“I’m not pulling tricks!”_ Eren yelled, head shooting up as he slammed his hands down on the table, leaning down on it as he slowly stood up. Behind the glass, Hitch made her way towards the door in case things got too out of hand.

“Those stupid motherfuckers flew circles around me, but then realized that I was just a kid. So you wanna know what happened? They landed and threw me against the wall, and that’s what split my head open-” he motioned to the bandage around his head, “they got more punches in, and that’s when I saw those _stupid fucking wings_ burned into their hands!” He lifted his hand, eyes crazed with trauma as he pushed a hard finger into the center of his left palm, showing where the mark was on his attackers.

“And then, oh goodness! My manager Miche comes out, and he’s this big, huge guy who towers over _everyone_ , and these guys, even with the stuff they had on them, had the audacity to web-sling away like they’re Peter Parker or some shit!” The brunette finished, shoulders heaving up and down. Marlowe stood up and put his hands down, “Eren, I need you to calm down and sit in the chair.”

The brunette grumbled, unceremoniously plopping back in the chair. “Are you ready to continue?” Eren nodded.

“Okay, so describe the day you got the letter”

“I got it in the mail the same day I came home from the hospital, my older brother Zeke found it in the mailbox when he and my sister, Mikasa came home from school.”

“Okay, and tell me what the letter said.”

Eren sighed, picturing the neat cursive on the page.

“It was an apology from someone named ‘E’, they said sorry that their men didn’t finish the job but that the job would be finished eventually and that I would meet them. It was signed with the same logo at the bottom.”

“And what do you think that means?”

Eren narrowed his eyes at the officer, who he knew was just following protocol but it still made him laugh dryly.

“Isn’t it obvious? You said back at the hospital they kill all the innocents who come into contact with them- so it’s pretty clear that they’re planning on killing me,” Eren rolled his eyes. _As if he could die._ He may not have stupid grappling-hook guns, but what he _did_ have 139 lbs of pure rage and fire (unfortunately no muscle, the puberty fairy had yet to work their magic on that department).

Marlowe just nodded, stopping the recording and looking up at Eren, “Thanks for deciding to cooperate, kid, you can leave now.” The boy shot up from his seat, speed walking out the door and shoving past both officers who listened in. Pixis, Hitch, and Marlowe saw as Eren immediately went over to his mother and dragged her out of the building swiftly. It made Marlowe rub his temples, “That poor kid, only sixteen and now he's being tracked down by like, the mafia.”

“What he was saying was true, though,” Pixis said, still looking at the doors that Eren had just exited, “about those grappling hook guns. Miche Zacharias, his manager, came in for interrogation the day after Eren was taken to the hospital. He and Eren haven’t been in contact since then, either, so both of their stories match up perfectly,” The investigator replied, sighing in exasperation and going to the breakroom to get more coffee. Hitch and Marlowe followed.

“I feel bad for the poor kid, do you think his mom told him he has to go into the WITSEC?”

-

“So not only did you use your gear incorrectly, but then you let someone get away. Not _only_ that, but both your hoods came off so if there is any security footage, you would both be easily identifiable.” The middle-aged man glowered at the two recruits across his desk, who looked down in shame.

“Floch, anything to say for yourself?” The auburn boy shook his head. He was kicked down to the floor, a boot-covered foot squishing his face uncomfortably against the hardwood.

“You gonna use your words, rookie?” Boss’ second-in-command crouched down, keeping Floch against the floor as they came eye to eye, “Or will I have to beat it outta ya?”

“Levi.”

The man scoffed, removing his foot and putting his hands up in faux innocence before making his way back behind Boss’ desk. Floch got up wearily, returning to his knees.

“I’m sorry, I do not, Sir,” he said meekly.

“Louise?”

“I have nothing either, Sir,” The girl repeated, boldly looking straight into her Boss’ eyes. He nodded and sighed, kicking his feet down from where they previously laid on top of the desk. The man sighed, folding his hands neatly on the desk and looking firmly at the new recruits across from him.

“We can’t afford mistakes here at the Survey Corps,” he explained, sighing, “It’s really a shame, too, since you guys both seemed so promising.” Floch’s eyes began to water, wide-eyed with pure fear as Erwin Smith got up and rounded his desk, crouching down in front of both the recruits.

“Do you want to die?”

Both recruits swallowed, shaking their heads while maintaining eye contact. Erwin looked down at the ground and smirked before standing back up and towering over them. “Beg.”

Beg…?

“Please don’t kill us, Sir,” Louise whispered meekly. She looked up at her boss, light shining on his back from the large window behind the desk. The glow outlined his tall, muscular build making him seem almost angelic. Almost.

“You sound so unsure of yourself, Louise, are you sure you want to keep going in this life?” Her mouth opened and closed, unsure of the right thing to say. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she heard a faint _‘ugh, disgusting’_ come from behind Erwin when a little snot dribbled out of her nose. 

“Sir- we are begging you for our lives, please!” Floch yelled, getting on all fours and even going as far as bowing down. At this, his boss smiled and tapped Floch lightly with the tip of his dress shoe.

Floch looked up, face red and splotchy. Erwin just smiled, sticking the toe of his shoe out tauntingly and motioning his foot forward. Floch took the hint, any inch of dignity that he had left leaked out with his tears as he tentatively began kissing at his boss’ shoe. Louise followed, kissing the other foot, before a hand made it’s way to both of their hair and yanked them up to face him, mere inches away.

He looked at both of them.

“You two are so _pathetic!”_ He cackled, keeping the close distance of their faces. Both recruits sniffled helplessly in return, shame coursing through the veins. He shoved their faces closer and they hung by the tuft of hair that was tightly clasped in his hands. The man’s voice dropped down to a murderous octave as he boldly made eye contact with both of them.

_“Who owns you?”_

Floch gulped down his tears and Louise sniffled before they responded, “You do, Sir.”

_“And how long do I own you?”_

He threw them both down to their backs, coming up between both of their bodies and grabbing their left hands, shoving their burnt, irritated skins in their faces so they could clearly see the inaugural crest.

“Until our lives have run their respective course,” they both said back, falling out a sync by the second word.

Erwin dropped their hands, landing a tightly closed fist on top of their chests where their heart lay buried deep inside.

“Dedicate your heart, rookies. Maybe if you were more dedicated to the cause, you wouldn’t be here right now.” He stood up, going back behind his desk and kicking his feet back up. Both recruits laid on the ground for a few seconds before Floch asked permission to get up, which Erwin generously granted.

“Excused, rookies. Don’t let it happen again.” 

They both scurried out of the office as fast as their pained knees could carry them and closed the door softly. 

“Why did you stop me, _mon beau?_ ” Levi whispered just above his lover’s ear from where he stood behind the desk chair, “Why do you never let me have any fun?”

Without looking up, Erwin’s hand shot towards Levi’s collar and dragged him down to his head’s level. His face turned slowly, making eye contact with a smirking Ackerman-Smith, “Oh, you know I like it when you’re rough,” the raven haired man mused.

“They’ll fuck it up again, and I know you like to savor the taste. Why let you devour so early, darling?” He muttered before leaning in, keeping a tight grip on Levi’s collar as they began to explore each other’s mouths. Erwin began kissing harder when he heard his office door open, always enjoying giving a show.

“ _Ugh!_ Dads, not at work!” Well, he liked giving a show to anyone that _wasn’t_ his seventeen year old son. They quickly parted, wiping their mouths and Levi bounded over to his adopted son, a rare smile gracing his face. The short man came up to Armin, squishing his cheeks before forcing his head down to give his forehead a fat kiss, “Ah! _Mon_ _bébé!_ How was your test today?”

Erwin always found it to be a funny situation whenever Armin entered the room, seeing Levi’s instant personality switch. He wasn’t a man to sugarcoat anything, so it was always a sight to see when a murderer, who never gave so much as a twinkle in his eyes to indicate emotion around anyone, completely changed his attitude the second his own son walked in. But, it only came natural. In the many years Erwin had known Levi, it was already common knowledge that Levi’s past was more than rough. It always warmed his cold, dead heart when he saw Levi being such a good parent to Armin and exhibiting the kind of parental love and care his lover had longed for back when he, too, was a child.

“It was good, I definitely passed but the results won’t come out until later this week,” The blonde teen wiggled out of Levi’s grip. The small father turned on his heel, walking back over to the desk at the head of the room and sitting on the edge, legs dangling off. Erwin looked around the desk, opening his right arm. Armin noted the motion, giving his other dad a hug before returning to his spot in front of the desk and pulling up a chair from the side of the room.

Levi’s elbows balanced on his knees and his hands cradled his head, “So! Tell us about your day!” to which Armin did. He wouldn’t really say that Levi was a helicopter parent, just...mildly to concerningly involved. Which wasn’t a bad thing, obviously- Armin knew he had the luck of the draw when it came to adoptive parents. Levi and Erwin, even through the whole gang thing, had been the best parents he could ever ask for. He couldn’t even be mad when he told them about their new... _occupation._ Armin had always been too intelligent for his own good, knowing that Erwin and Levi didn’t just begin a hotel chain on a complete whim. When he approached them about it, Erwin’s mouth went dry and Levi nearly broke down in tears, but Armin just pulled them into a group hug.

Was it wrong, looking at the whole thing from an outside perspective? Well, yes- even a blind man could see it was wrong. Was it wrong, starting a drug chain as a last resort in order to support their nearly-bankrupt family when both of their occupations started going under? Was it wrong when both parents were actively clean and never once touched someone else’s or their own supply? Was it wrong when they were both now able to come and see Armin at school functions, winning the science fair, taking the academic decathlon team to nationals, instead of working inhuman hours at an underpaying 9 to 5?

Armin’s intelligence said yes but his heart said no.

Therefore, that’s why he walked in like he owned the place, one day he _would_. Illegal never felt so good, because he knew it was happening for all the right reasons. Call him self-centered, but guess who now lived comfortably and got to spend time with his parents again? Oh yeah- him.

So Armin continued to talk about his day, making excited hand gestures when talking about his AP Chemistry class and whatnot.

_‘Hanji already taught me about that when I was helping make a bomb for that one order, but I still thought the in-class lab was cool!’_ He would tell them, thinking about the close family friend as well as the tactical scientist who helped develop new technology for the Scouts.

“We’re supposed to be having a new kid next week, too, and since I’m the ASB president slash valedictorian-to-be, the principle asked me to show him around!” Levi hopped off the desk, patting Armin’s head.

“Well, play nice. Don’t hit back unless they hit first, murder is illegal,” Armin chuckled at the final statement, getting up and dusting off imaginary specks off his jeans, “So I can still visit you two in jail then, right?”

Erwin barked a laugh and Levi’s face turned to a scowl.

“As if those stupid pigs could ever find us out, dumb cops,” Levi grumbled, crossing his arms and shooing his son out of the room who was still laughing with his other father, “Erwin! Don’t encourage him!”

Erwin quickly stopped and obeyed, pointing an accusing finger at Armin who was at the door to leave, “Armin, don’t talk to your mom like that.” Both blonde men fell into laughter again, Armin saying he would drive back to their house and see them at dinner while Levi’s jaw still hung in disbelief on the ground. He turned back around to his husband, retaking his ‘Second-in-Command’ persona.

“I hate you.”

“I love you too, darling,” Erwin chuckled, going through a flurry of papers and attempting to find a particular file and get back to work, “were you able to pinpoint the Jaeger, by chance?”

“Of course I was, but wasn’t able to get far. Can you believe that they’re putting him under WITSEC? Those fuckers,” Levi scowled, beginning to also search for Eren’s file. Eventually he found it under the stack of genuine hotel paperwork, flipping it open and looking at the sweet kid who smiled back. It was a yearbook picture from the year prior, shown as the boy wore the high school's ugly ass polo. His hair was in disarray and there was a hint of a split lip, but the sparkle in the young boy’s eyes was prominent through the photo. Levi’s heart clenched as he overlooked it, none of it showing on his face. He hated killing kids, but a failed job was a failed job. It would end up like this either way.

“I hope Armin makes friends with that new kid,” Erwin said, flipping through the multiple papers stashed in Eren’s file. Information about his parent’s, their schedules, his siblings, practically his entire life all laid out on different documents. Erwin tapped them against the table, once again assorting them in a neat stack, “I know he still has a hard time making friends, even with all of the student body work.”

Levi put a hand down on the desk next to the file, leaning on it and continuing to stare into the bright green eyes that stared right back.

“Me too.”


	3. WITSEC is Terrible at Choosing New Identity Names

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh! the response to this fic has been amazing so far <3 thank you to everyone who came from my last fic, i appreciate it mwah mwah <3 okay, onto chapter 3!

“We have to go into the  _ what?!” _

Dot Pixis stood up, putting his hands out when Eren shot up from the couch in disbelief.

“Son, I’m gonna need you to calm down so I can explain,” the old man looked at the poor boy who flopped back on the couch helplessly between his two siblings. Across from Dot sat the two other Jaeger children, the older brother with a tight arm wrapped around his younger sister in a soothing fashion.

“Given the circumstances, we at the Trost Police Department have reason to believe that your life, along with the rest of your family’s, are in danger. We’ve taken up protocol and are placing you into the Witness Protection Program, otherwise known as WITSEC, which would entail-”

Eren’s eyes welled up with hot tears that he attempted to rub away angrily. It was all his fault, why did he feel so obligated to take out the damn trash? Would it have hurt to wait another hour or so? All he did was mess things up, and now his family had to get an entire new life because of him.

They weren’t just moving away  _ again, _ oh no. They were moving up north to the bustling city of Sina. That’s not all, but the new move also came with brand new identities. Pixis elaborated on the topic, eyes flickering between Carla and Grisha when discussing the plans of getting new Social Security numbers and birth certificates for everyone in the family. Because of the Scout’s threat level, this all had to be done by next week, leaving Eren and the rest of his family to give their discreet goodbyes to everyone they knew, including friends and extended family, before they had to cut all contact with them in order to conceal their identities.

“Luckily, with Eren’s cooperativeness, this is possible to only last temporarily, so don’t get your hopes too far down. We’ve been reviewing security footage from during Eren’s attack and have been able to identify two possible suspects. Thankfully, Eren’s survival has been a huge lead and is mostly looked at as a blessing in disguise.”

Mr. and Mrs. Jaeger nodded their heads, understanding that the ends would justify the means in a possible year’s time, depending on how quickly the suspects were captured and such. Mikasa leaned into Zeke and gave her infamous deadpan, trying to process the information. Zeke just kept his arm tight around her in return.

“We will help both of you, Mr. and Mrs. Jaeger, to get new jobs but under new professions so you aren’t able to be discovered too easily,” the old gentleman turned to the kids, “as for you three. There is to be no social media use and all of your accounts on any website, including any school or personal accounts on all platforms, will be terminated, neither will you be allowed to contact your friends through these networks.” Eren groaned. Great, now he practically had a phone for nothing.

“We’ll have everything finalized by Saturday,” it was Wednesday, “and you will all be sent the information then via me. I will be by at 6pm to discuss living arrangements and you will make your drive to the new housing on Sunday, U-Hauls and moving help will also be supplied. No need to worry about the school situation as well, we’ve already handled it. They will be attending Sina High- Zeke, was it? They have a really good baseball team, I’m sure you and your powerhouse of an arm will like it there.” Zeke scoffed at the thought of being forced to up his position as varsity captain.

“I know this is hard, but we at the Trost Police Department will do our best to ensure that the transition is as swift and effortless as possible.” Pixis stood up along with his parents, shaking hands and offering their gratitude before leading the investigator to the door.

“Thank you, Pixis, you’ve really been a great help through all of this,” his father said gruffly. Carla nodded her head as well, “Agreed. Thank you for taking care of everything for us and our family.”

Once the door was closed, a quiet whimper was heard from the couch.

“I..I” Eren croaked shakily, “I’m so sorry!” Eren cried, curling in on himself. His shoulders heaved up and down as Zeke quickly came to his brother’s aide, leaning the Eren-shaped ball against him. He pet his brother’s head as Grisha guided a sorrowful Mikasa to the kitchen. Carla added in, leaning down to reassure Eren while laying a gentle, thankful hand on her step-son’s shoulder.

“Eren, it’s not your fault,” Zeke cooed, motioning for Carla to go help Mikasa. As she left, she smiled sadly at her two sons on the couch. Zeke had always been such an amazing older brother to Eren, and an even better step-son to Carla. She often thought of his mom, Dina, who died due to pregnancy complications. A year and a half later, she met Grisha at the bar she worked at. Dr. Jaeger thanked his lucky stars and Dina, wherever she was, that he had met Carla at such a downpoint in his life. She was able to pull him out of his hole and began to help take care of his son and him, so he took Beyonce’s advice and put a ring on it four months later. Call it cliche, and Grisha hated to say this because of his late wife, but sometimes you just know when you found the one, which explained why him and Carla quickly eloped and had Eren the next year. Despite never really getting to know his mom, Mrs. Jaeger knew everything had happened so quickly and she was always happy to see Zeke still treating family like family even 15 years later. He was just a good person like that, she supposes, and whether he got it from Grisha or Dina, she couldn’t tell.

Eren leaned into his brother and he felt disgusting crawling up is back as he processed the situation. No more friends, no family, no contact. New city, name, identity. It was a clean slate that too many people longed for, but Eren’s personal hell. He would miss every one of his friends, but now he was even making Zeke and Mikasa leave their own friends. The little Jaeger vocalized this to Zeke, apologizing profusely.

The older brother backed away and roughly grabbed his brother by the shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes through the lenses of his circular glasses.

“Eren, listen to me. Do you really think I’d rather choose being murderer over moving somewhere for a few years,” Eren shook his head no, “yeah, you’re right. Eren, no one is mad with you. It’s not your fault for taking out the damn trash and I’m sure everyone else would prefer that we just go away for a little bit rather than having you found dead in that alley. Understand?” The brunette across from him sniffled and nodded, collapsing back into Zeke’s chest and trying to catch his breath from crying. Zeke, always so rational and knew exactly what to say. 

“How about you go to the bathroom, wash your face with cold water, and then we can go out back and play catch for a bit?” Eren nodded and made his way to the bathroom, rising his face off. He stared at his reflection, thoroughly unimpressed by the kid who stared back at him.

His eyes were puffy and red, entire face swollen. His nose looked atrociously bigger from the snot that was a deluxe package deal with sobbing his eyes out. The whites of his eyes were bloodshot and he was breathing heavily through his mouth. He blew his nose at an attempt to breathe normally, but to no avail (even though it felt as if he blew out his lungs). He waited a few minutes until he was completely calm and slightly collected before he made his way back out and to the backyard, passing his parents and Mikasa in the kitchen who were all just drinking tea (his mom’s treat, probably). He faltered slightly and then went up to his sister, hugging her.

“I’m sorry, Kasa.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s the Scouts,” she pulled away, looking him in the eye with an evil glint, “I won’t let them touch you.” 

  
He nodded, hugging her again before letting go and meeting Zeke out back to play catch. It helped him take his mind off it for a bit.

-

They weren’t even allowed to tell anyone they were leaving, so on their last Friday at school, Eren and Mikasa treated everyone to lunch at the diner down the street. Eren met them there since he was still technically recovering from his head injury, but Mikasa and Historia were nice enough to carpool everyone.

“What’s the cause of this, Jaeger? I think you’re being a little too nice to me today,” Jean jested, digging into his milkshake. Eren just laughed and slurped at his own, eyeing the group. God, he would really miss them.

“Just have been feeling a bit emotional, vag-in out probably,” he admit clumsily, taking the group by surprise and making the three girls at the table knit their eyebrows in slight offense. He never usually gave into Jean’s jokes so easily. “I,” he looked at Mikasa, “We just both agreed that you guys deserve to be treated, so here we are.” He laughed nervously.

Jean, Marco, and Historia shared a quizzical look, but Connie and Sasha kept eating their food.

“Guys, we just wanted to show that...uh,” Mikasa started. She never really got too emotional in front of people that weren’t her immediate family, “we really love you. And no matter what, know that we both care about you guys so much and can’t wait to grow old together and shit.”

“Yeah, what she said. I love you all, even you Horseface. And thank you guys for sticking around since, like, kindergarten,” Eren finished for her.

“Aww! E-wen! Mikatha! We wove you too!” Sasha exclaimed through a mouth full of fries, getting up and parading around the table to encapture them both in a huge hug, pressing both their faces against Sasha’s. Everyone else agreed heartily and shared a quick moment before resuming their casual banter. Eren grabbed Mikasa’s hand under the table, giving it a light squeeze that she returned.

This was it. Their last time seeing their friends until God knows when.

-

“Sorry kids, but Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman transferred to a different school over the weekend and will no longer be attending Trost High.”

_ “WHAT?” _ Jean slammed his hand down on the front desk, startling the poor woman who was just trying to do her job, “What do you mean transferred schools? Where?” Historia laid a gentle hand over Jean’s, clutching it lightly as a discrete signal to calm down.

The front desk lady recollected herself and sighed, “Mr. Kirstein, I legally cannot disclose that information. Please return to your break period before I must have the principle involved.”

The group made their way out, frustrated and phones in hand.

“You said you sent texts to both of them and they didn’t reply?” Marco asked. Connie, Sasha, and Historia replied with a nod. “It didn’t deliver.” Connie replied, scrolling through the mass amounts of texts he sent to Eren.

“Did you try calling both of them?”

“Yes- and it said the phone number doesn’t exist anymore! If it says that, that means they didn’t block us!” Sasha piped up, shoving her phone into her back pocket. Jean shook his head as they approached the cafeteria doors, throwing his fist roughly against the nearest locker and leaving a dent.

“ _ Dammit!  _ It’s like no one else cares, but they wouldn’t just disappear without a trace!” Jean grit through his teeth. Marco rubbed a soft hand over his back in an attempt to calm him down.

“I know! I even asked the baseball coach where Zeke was and he wouldn’t tell me a thing! This is the most I’ve gotten out of anyone about them!” Historia said, fumbling with her fingers and shaking her head. The group was in disarray, wishing they could’ve treasured their seemingly final moments at the diner with the two siblings a little more a few days prior.

“We can’t give up on them,” Sasha said, crossing her arms. The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

“We  _ will _ find them, if it’s the last thing we do.” Jean said, malice laced in his voice.

Meanwhile, Eren and his family were stuck seven hours up north in the city of Sina.

“And you’re...Kruger?” The office lady asked.

Great, it was his first day of school at Sina High and not only did he have a dumbass name, but his sister had already gone to her classes with her ‘guide’. He huffed, adjusting his backpack straps.

“Yes, Kruger Smith,” Yeah, Eren already knew what you’re thinking. How God-fucking-awful of a name. Literally, he probably could’ve been named Shitstain McGee but anything was better than fucking  _ Kruger Smith. _ At first hearing his new identity, it sounded like a generic white guy who was a murderer.

...At least he wasn’t a murderer. And he was German and Turkish, so still white but a little flavorful, he thought (as all generic white people do). Also, he wasn’t generic (he thought as he looked down at his white slip-on vans).

“Okay, here’s your final schedule,” she shoved a slip forward, “I see that you already got your books on Monday.” They got to their house Sunday night after a tedious drive but Carla forced Eren to go to the school the next day to collect everything and prepare rather than unpack his room. Zeke drove the three of them, which was a car ride filled with karaoke and a lot of cussing regarding the move.

“And- that should be it! Your guide should be here soon...it’s pretty uncharacteristic for him to be late!” She chuckled in an attempt to be comforting. The dead look on the 16 year old’s face across from her said otherwise, though.

As if on cue, a short boy with a blonde bob burst through the door attempting to gasp his breath. He flung his backpack around to the front, grabbing an inhaler hastily from the front pocket and taking two huffs. The brunette a few paces away stared at the boy in awe and shamelessly checked him out, time seeming to slow down as his eyes graced every inch of the boy’s body. Damn, Eren wasn’t really one for blondes, but he couldn’t deny that whoever this kid was, he  _ definitely  _ made Eren’s jeans tighter.

“Hi, I’m Armin! Uh, Armin Arlert-” he put his hands on his knees and bent over to catch his breath.

_ Damn, already bent over for me? _ Eren chuckled to himself before mentally giving himself a slap. You just met this kid, what a creep.

“And I’m Sina’s ASB President! A-Also, I’ll be your tour guide for today!” The boy, Armin, finally bent up straight and stuck his arm out, giving Eren a determined smirk as his fiery blue eyes bore into Eren’s.

“I apologize for my tardiness, it was uncharacteristic. I had to help my parents out with, uh, something.”

In all honesty, Armin had to clean blood stains off of equipment as punishment for skipping out on chores to “study” (he was napping, but frankly he felt like he deserved it). Luckily, blood came off easily but he had to clean daggers which were small, tedious, and Armin all around preferred pistols. But- the new school attendee couldn’t exactly know that, could he?

Okay, this is getting weird. The kid is still staring at his hand. First day jitters?

“Uh, Mr. Arlert, this is Kruger Sm-” The repetition of his ugly ass identity made Eren snap out of his trance, making him shoot his hand forward and completely cut off the front desk lady.

“I’m Kruger- just Kruger,” Eren offered a weak smile as he tried not to flinch at his new name.

Armin just nodded slowly, shaking Kruger’s hand firmly before letting go.

“Well Kruger, welcome to Sina High!” He cheekily smiled and took on his ASB student persona. The bubbly, customer service voice came naturally to him at this point. The do-no-harm, God’s light kinda personality that made everyone naturally drawn to you- yeah, that’s who Armin was during the daytime. But, Kruger didn’t like it. The boy immediately scowled at the sentence.

Eren didn’t like this kid’s attitude, no matter how cute he was. It seemed fake and a little too ditzy, but he wanted the real Armin he just saw that burst through the door- inhaler and everything. Also, the blonde just felt so obligated to mention that Eren was anywhere else  _ but  _ Trost High School. Armin began rambling about the school and grabbed the slip containing his schedule out of Eren’s hand while Eren just glanced at the clock.

_ I would be in third period right now and Connie would be making paper airplanes to throw at Mr. Dok, _ he thought gently.

“-okay, cool! So let’s start our tour!” Armin turned on his heel, making Eren bust his ass into gear and tread steadily along like a puppy on a collar. Eren didn’t really know how the schedule worked yet, but this instance so happened to occur as everyone was at their locker. It must be break or something, that didn’t matter though because of how many eyes were trained on him at the moment. There he was, dressed in mediocre attire and following behind this blonde who walked like he owned the place, as if this walk was used everywhere he went. His head was held upwards as he walked steadily, paying no mind to anyone who stared or whispered. 

“Kruger, you don’t have to walk behind me, you know, I won’t bite,” the blonde jested, looking over his shoulder and upwards at the rigid boy behind him. Poor guy. He slowed his pace to walk beside Kruger, giving a light chuckle and beginning to explain the hallway.

“So this is the hallway that leads to the science building, which is where your first period is! I have a few friends that take Physiology, so I’ll make sure to introduce you!” He smiled, pointing to a classroom in the distance.

Okay, having a cute guy as a tour guide was pretty cool, but Eren still would prefer to be making paper airplanes with Connie right now. The brunette completely tuned out to his guide, nodding his head numbly as he reflected on his past life. He wasn’t even able to genuinely say goodbye, just a vague reassurance. It fucking sucked, and if anything, Eren was cursing the Scouts right now as he walked the halls.

Similarly, Armin let the attack survivor linger in the back of his mind. He wondered if his dads had made any leads. He wondered if they would let him help with the job. Mentally, the blonde shrugged away the thought as he continued the tour for Kruger, trying his best to seem enthusiastic as the Scouts plagued his mind.

Only time would tell, right?


	4. 10 Reasons Why Armin Should Help the Scouts Capture the Survivor (with pictures)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eeek. i dont have much to say. a lot of schoolwork. very tired. scared for next week's aot episode. the usual.

Levi’s jaw tightened at his son. Armin usually wasn’t disrespectful, and technically he wasn’t being right now, but damn was it annoying when Armin decided to talk back.

_ “Okay Dad, I would appreciate it if you sat down and let me show you one of my projects,”  _ Armin had come into the kitchen after school, making him give Erwin a questioning glance. 

_ “Sure, why not?” _ His husband replied, making his way to the living room. The shorter husband tentatively followed both blondes, gripping his tea mug with both hands. Levi and Erwin took a spot in the middle of the couch that faced their TV where Armin’s computer was already plugged into the screen. 

_ “Ok, close your eyes while I get it set up!” _ Levi knew that tone, it was his son’s ‘I-want-something’ tone. Frankly, even closing his eyes to wait for Armin’s presentation was the first mistake because he opened his eyes to a brightly decorated slideshow. It had pretty flowers and clearly a lot of time and thought had gone into the project. Levi appreciated it artistically until he read the slide’s opening title.

_ ‘10 Reasons Why I Should Help The Scouts Capture The Survivor (with pictures) by Armin Arlert’ _

Levi’s mouth hung agape while Erwin began to cackle, slapping his knee like your average white dad and coughing when it became hard to breathe. Armin crossed his arms angrily, like a little gnome, in front of the TV.  _ “Ugh- can you guys puh-lease let me finish,”  _ Armin had said.

_ “You won’t have to because the answer is no.”  _ Levi sat back and crossed his legs, and now we’re at present time. As Levi was previously saying, Armin didn’t talk back often unless he  _ really _ wanted something. Due to his unfaltering genius, a simple ‘no’ wouldn’t suffice for him, so Levi just sat back and boredly began watching the slideshow. His casual, permanent scowl remained on his face as Armin began talking.

“So, the first reason is that I am me.”

There were many pictures of Armin, whether it be an actual selfie or Armin’s face photo-shopped onto a rich model. The most notable was the one of Armin taking a selfie at the beach, camera held high above his head and looking back at the sun and endless waves of water. Levi loved that photo, his boy looked so happy. Not that it mattered now, though, because Levi was thoroughly pissed off.

“Obviously I’m me. I’m super cool, funny, friendly, and it’ll be easy for me to get along with everyone. Also, I’m a genius. Seriously, a certified gifted kid. I mean, just look at the evidence-” The next slide showed Armin when he was thirteen. He proudly held out a ‘1st place’ badge at the science fair with both dads beside him, smiling. It was a nice family photo. Armin took note of how Erwin slowly began to lean forward, placing his forearms on the tops of his thighs and clasping his hands.  _ Great,  _ his plan was working- Erwin was always a sucker for family things.

_‘I’ve got you in my grasp now, stupid cracker,’_ Armin mentally chuckled maliciously, continuing his presentation. He knew Levi would be a hard egg to crack, but eventually he would. Wanna know why? **_Because the Dark Lord’s will is never denied._**

“-also, I have an IQ of 149, which by technical standards is a genius so do with that evidence as you please,” he smiled smugly, flipping to the next slide. Levi groaned, how much time did his son spend on this damn slideshow? It was completely decked out in cutesy pictures, easy-to-read text points, and had smooth transitions that flowed with the presentation. Both men on the couch silently read the next slide to themselves.

_ Reason #2: I’ve Been Privately Trained by the Most Notorious Soldiers of the Scouts (including you two) (I still have photo evidence) _

Erwin turned back to Levi, eyes wide after glossing over the pictures of Armin training with multiple people. There was Hanji, him, Erwin, Moblit, Nanaba, all pictures of them midfight. It also featured pictures of Armin handling multiple guns ranging from a semi-automatic down to his favorite pistol (it was one given to him last year for his birthday, decorated with blue diamonds and engraved with his initials. It was displayed proudly in his room). Other photos showed Armin using the new Anti-Personnel Vertical Maneuvering gear (a lot better than ODM gear, Armin thought, and the all black suit looked cooler on him).

“He’s making some good points, Le,” Erwin nodded his head enthusiastically like a puppy. Ugh- why did his husband always have to gang up on him with Armin, it wasn’t fair. Levi shot up from the couch, moving to turn off the TV and making the two other people in the room begin to talk in protest.

Levi hated to use his Dad Voice, but it was necessary.

“Armin Arlert, you are not helping us assassinate the survivor. That is final.” Armin shot his hands up in the air, sighing in frustration.

“But Dad, I’m the heir to the Scouts-” 

“Does it look like I give a shit? You could die!”

“Yeah, and so can you!” Armin’s shoulders were heaving and he refused to back down.

“Jesus Armin- you aren’t getting it. You are seventeen.  _ Seventeen! _ I refuse to let you kill someone, let alone even be associated with it until you’re legal. If we get taken to the pin, over my dead body will you be taken with us or tried as an adult. Armin, do you understand that if your dad and I get caught, we will most likely face the death penalty or a life sentence with no parole?” Armin shook his head no. He always just figured they wouldn’t get caught because despite being genius, he kept his head near childish perfection.

“ _ Exactly _ my point, Armin. Why are you so eager? You know- the first time I even got relatively close to killing someone for the first time, I was thirteen.” Uh oh, this was bad. Armin knew he had taken it too far, Levi never dared to talk about his childhood.

“Remember your Uncle Kenny?” Of course he did, he loved and adored his Uncle Kenny, “Well, he was late on a payment because surprise surprise, he was dealing crack. This huge guy walks in our shithole house, guns ablazing, and little thirteen year old me snuck up behind him and beat the living shit out of him until he was on the brink of death. Do you know what it’s like to watch someone die?” Armin shook his head again. He wanted to go upstairs.

“You don’t want to. I called the police and said I found him in the street-” Levi sighed, rubbing his eyes, “Listen, Armin, I know how badly you want to be a part of the Corps. I know we let you train and hang out and help, but that’s all the behind the scenes things. I will  _ not _ have my son be taken down as a teenager, let alone be involved on the front lines in a murder.”

“But what about you?” Armin didn’t know why he was speaking, “What if you get sent to jail? And leave me?”

“Armin, we are trying our best to  _ not _ have that happen. I might be your dad, Armin. I signed those papers, I go to school events, we love each other and we’re a family. It doesn’t change the fact that we are  _ bad people. _ ”

His son’s shoulders shook as tears welled up in his eyes. He promptly walked over, conversation from earlier completely forgotten, and hugged Levi. The shorter man felt the hot tears making the shoulder of his shirt wet as he began to rub Armin’s back. He moved them to sit on the couch, where Erwin had moved from to the kitchen once the two men began to bicker with each other. His son cried and cried into his shoulder before he dared to look up.

“Dad, you aren’t bad people. You- you did what you had to do. I will always believe that! You did what you had to do, you aren’t bad people, you love me…” the tears started up again and Levi was trying his best to hold back his own. Erwin came back, sitting next to Armin and engulfing his family into a group hug. After a while, they pulled away and Erwin finally talked.

“Armin, your dad is right. We know that  _ we _ are good people,” he motioned between all of them, “but to the outside world, we’re just another bunch of drug dealers that are going around killing people.” Armin hiccuped. His dad was right, it didn’t matter that Hanji secretly snuck Armin snacks during studying or if Nanaba made him hot tea and talked with him after training, by association they were bad people.

“Please just, don’t leave me. I want to go down together if it ever happens. Just once, please let me help on the frontlines. It’ll all be mine one day anyways.”

Levi shook his head with a frustrated sigh. He  _ hated _ that Armin’s inheritance of the Scouts was unavoidable. No longer how long Erwin was in charge, it would always pass down to Armin and he had the possibility of being convicted of the same exact crimes they could be convicted of. Yet, despite his better judgement, Levi sighed and pulled away, looking at his son with a certain fondness that was reserved for him.

“Ah,  _ mon bébé,  _ not this one. We have the police on our tails, we think they’re going to release the information about Floch and Louise soon, so until we have it handled, no. One day soon, but in such a high chase, I would appreciate it if you stayed out of it. Maybe the next one,” Levi patted his son’s hair with finality and Armin just nodded. Okay, so maybe the Dark Lord didn’t always get what he wanted, but he would be on the frontlines next time which was a nice thought to have.

-

“Hey, Kruger!” Armin’s voice was unnaturally chipper in the morning. Kruger didn’t acknowledge him, “Uh, Kruger?” Armin put a hand on his shoulder, making the boy jump and look around. The blonde quickly retracted his hand, feverishly muttering apologies for scaring him.

Eren momentarily forgot his name was Kruger, so excuse him for not responding- not that he could tell Armin that.

“God, sorry, guess I’m just a little out of it this morning,” Eren laughed, nervously rubbing behind his neck. 

Armin laughed, tossing a dismissive hand, “Been there, done that, don’t even worry yourself.” The bell rang, signaling for their first class. The day after the tour, Eren walked to his locker to see Armin waiting for him. 

_ ‘Just to make sure you were settling in alright!’  _ The blonde had offered, making Eren’s heart flutter. Ever since then, whether in the morning, break, or lunch, Armin waited at Eren’s locker which the brunette appreciated. Not only did he have a cute guy waiting for him, but he could probably even go as far as saying they were friends. It was the end of the week now, Friday, and Armin had been missing his lunch with his friends in order to sit with Eren at a lone bench under a tree outside the campus cafeteria doors. Eating outside was scarce for the casual students of Sina High, making it a perfect place for Eren to adjust.

At lunch that day, the brunette would talk about it. 

“You know, I kinda feel bad for forcing you to eat out here. Like, yeah, I’d be sitting alone but I don’t really care, I want you to sit with your friends.” At this, Armin laughed and leaned forward to rest his face on his palm.

“You  _ are _ my friend, Kruger, so technically I do.” Ugh. Kruger. It made Eren shiver.

“Well, yeah, but it’s different. I’m sure there is a group of people you used to sit with.”

Armin pondered it for a minute, “Yeah, I do, but they are just acquaintances. I’ve never actually been too good about the whole friendship thing, I’d probably prefer just sitting out here with you,” he sheepishly admit.

“What- really? But you’re like, president and all that, wouldn’t people want to be your friend?” Armin laughed again.

“Kruger, I read books and drink hot tea with my parents for fun, teenagers like to go out and be rowdy. That’s just not me.”

“Well, I think that’s pretty cool and really, uh, sweet that you do that,” Eren blushed, looking down at his homework that he was doodling on. Nice amateur way to flirt, dude. “Uh- speaking of your parents, what’re they like?” Eren wanted to punch himself. Was he making it obvious that he needed to infer if he would get Armin’s parents’ approval or not- was Armin even gay?!

Eren dismissed the thought- of  _ course _ Armin was gay, the mushroom bob he sported was more fruity than a damn fruit bowl.

Armin looked thoughtfully before starting.

“Well, they’re the greatest parents I could ever ask for. Levi and Erwin adopted me when I was nine, but they’re genuinely the best thing to ever happen to me.” Eren didn’t let his face change at the knowledge of Armin being an orphan, nor did he press for questions. He didn’t want the boy to be uncomfortable, so he just opted to smile and nod. So, his dads were gay  _ obviously _ , so they’d be open to their relationship. There’s one checkbox marked down.

“They own these like, hotels,”  _ drug-smuggling cover ups, _ Armin said mentally, “and they started up a few years ago but surprisingly, business is booming so I can’t really complain. We’re more better off than we have been in my entire life, so…” Armin saw something click in Kruger’s mind.

“Wait- are your dads Levi and Erwin Ackerman-Smith?” Armin glanced across the table, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Uh, yes?”

“ _ Oh my god! No way!” _ Eren smiled.

“Uh, you know them through the hotels?” Armin asked and Eren nodded enthusiastically, “Okay, no offense, but it’s kinda weird to be so enthusiastic about hotel chains and their owners. Unless, I mean, you want to own a hotel or something but that’s your jam.”

“No!” Eren laughed, “Me and my sister, Mi-I mean Zoe, bought our parents a suite for their wedding anniversary last year. We did some like, extensive research, and holy  _ shit  _ your dads’ hotels are so nice. I can’t believe we didn’t get a room for ourselves!” Eren whined, daydreaming about the room pictures he and Mikasa had scanned over while putting in the room reservations. “Wait- your last name is Arlert, right? Why didn’t it change? I would’ve never guessed about your dads.”

Armin shrugged, picking at his salad, “My parents died in a car accident when I was seven. I love Levi and Erwin to death, and they really are my entire world, but I wanted to keep it for my parents because they were my world, too.”

“They weren’t hurt? Oh actually don’t answer that, I’m definitely being too invasive right now,” Armin laughed, looking at Kruger. Had his eyes always been that green and had his skin always been so clear? 

“It’s fine- and no, they actually encouraged it. They’re good people, that’s just how it’s always been,” a miniscule of a frown made its way to Armin’s face as he recollected the conversation from last night. Eren just smiled, thinking about the photo of the seemingly opposite couple he and Mikasa had seen on the hotel’s “About Us” page, he was sure they were awesome parents and even better people.

Eventually, lunch ended and Armin made his way back home. He walked into the kitchen where Erwin and Levi were leaning against the island as per usual. 

“Ah!  _ Mon bébé!  _ How was school today?” Levi said, glancing towards the kitchen entrance and eyes glossing over his frazzled son.

“Plug your ears.”

Levi glanced at Erwin, both men setting down their respective cups and covering their ears. Armin took note and threw his backpack to the ground, balling his fists and looking at the ceiling before letting out a frustrated yell. Levi’s eyes went wide and he looked at Erwin, who was trying to contain a laugh.

Once Armin had stopped, he stomped his foot multiple times on the ground in frustration. Levi made his way over to Erwin and whispered in his ear while Armin stomped.

“Just get a good look at it, Erwin.”

“Levi-”

“No really, just look at it.” Both men didn’t know what the floor had done to their son, but he kept mercilessly stomping on it with more force than the previous stomp.

“Yeah, that’s your heir to the kingdom, buddy. We chose that one.” Levi patted Erwin on the back before returning to his cup of tea, jumping up to sit next to it on the island and taking a sip as Armin’s stomps began to slow.

His head whipped up, eyes ablazing.

“Armin, what happened?” Erwin offered, gliding over to Levi’s side.

“Remember that stupid new kid I had to show around?” Levi and Erwin nodded, “Well his name is Kruger. And he’s super duper nice, and he’s my friend!” Armin yelled angrily.

“...and that’s bad because?”

“ _ HE’S HOOOOOT!”  _ Armin cried angrily at the ceiling, wailing and flapping his arms. “And probably straight, I thought he was flirting with me today but he was probably just being nice!” 

His dads fell into a heap of laughter, making Armin more frustrated. 

“Wow- what a fucking unfortunate name,” Levi cackled, “imagine having to moan that one in bed- no seriously, think about it; that would  _ suck!” _

Armin stomped his foot again. 

“Helloooo? Are you guys even listening? What do I do?”

Both men stopped, looking at their son. It definitely wasn’t the first time Armin had liked someone, but it was the first time he’d ever been so serious that he felt inclined to get his parents’ help.

“Well, if he’s nice and treats you right, then go out. If you like that, he can meet us and we can go from there.” Armin nodded, rubbing his chin. He then walked up to Erwin, giving him a highfive.

“Genius strategy, dear father. I must now attend to my schoolwork, please leave me alone in my abyss of darkness.” And with that, Armin grabbed his backpack from the ground and marched upstairs, leaving both men stunned.

Levi turned to Erwin. 

“Yep, that’s the same boy who’s the Scouts’ sharpshooter, part time bomb maker, and technology extraordinaire,” Levi mused to his husband, who just nodded and chuckled.

“Yep, and he’s all ours!” They both clinked their teacups before taking a final sip. Erwin put him and Levi’s cups in the sink and grabbed both their coats off the dining chairs as Levi took off a picture hanging on the wall, reaching into the hole that laid behind it and grabbed him and Erwin’s pistols. They tucked it into the back of their shirt, whipping on their coats, and heading to the front door.

“We’re going to work, call if you need anything!” Erwin shouted from the door, hearing a faint  _ ‘okay’ _ from Armin’s room.

Both men got into their cars and started off to their destination. Whilst taking their hardened and bossy personas, they couldn’t help but talk about the boy that seemed to capture their son’s heart.


	5. Armin Has A Plan and Eren Has a White Monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT INFORMATION!! PLEASE READ!!
> 
> hello everyone! before the chapter starts, i wanted to let you all know that i genuinely took time out of my day to recreate Armin's slideshow from the last chapter. You can find it on my Instagram as linked below.
> 
> slideshow: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMNX6yNh8UV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
> 
> if you can't view it then I promise I'll find a way soon!!! technology is hard :(  
> also i used some art for reference this chapter! so creds to @larkei on Instagram, and here's the photo I used for reference (instead I switched out Marco and Armin later on in the chapt... you'll see when you get there)
> 
> larkei's art i used for reference: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJYl5xyBKgb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
> 
> ok! now onto ch. 5! <3

Sunday nights after work were usually only rough due to having to prep for the week. Unfortunately, it was now more than rough. Like anal rough- dry ass no lube rough.

“ _Fucking dammit, Erwin! If you just let me kill them, it wouldn’t be a problem right now!”_

Armin could clearly hear Levi walking through the door of the house, slamming the door so hard it made Armin’s window shake lightly.

“Jesus Levi- you think I don’t realize that now?! Sorry for trying to not add another body to your count, christ!” He heard Erwin groan faintly. Armin opened the door lightly and tread down the stairs, keeping himself hidden behind a corner while his dads were in the kitchen.

“You think that matters now, Erwin? They got themselves fucking arrested- not like they could make a damn cover story up because guess what they fucking have?” There was a moment of silence. Armin could tell that Levi was shoving his left hand in Erwin’s face by the rustle of his coat jacket, most likely revealing the faint scar that was left behind from when they both initiated themselves.

“And if that wasn’t the ultimate shitstain on your life at the moment- _their burns haven’t fucking healed yet!”_ Two palms slammed angrily down against the counter.

“Levi, they won’t say anything-”

“Until they’re in jail! Until they’re under WITSEC, just like that fucking Jaeger kid!” Armin took mental note of this; his parents didn’t mention that the survivor had been placed under WITSEC. “They were kids, Erwin. Nineteen year old bastards that fucked up their first mediocre job- I should’ve just slit their throat when I had the chance!”

“Listen, Levi, you really don’t have to rub it in my face that I was wrong for once!” Erwin’s volume slowly began to raise and Armin could physically feel the irritation leaking from out of the kitchen.

“What do we do?” The meek whisper came from the shorter husband, “Erwin, if they expose us, we’re done for.” A sniffle resounded.

“What about Armin? We’ll miss his graduation, his first job, our grandkids-” Reassuring shushes echoed but were eventually drowned out by light sobs. Armin widened his eyes, slowly creeping back upstairs as the conversation ended.

“Erwin, if that kid identifies them both and Floch and Louise co-operate with the FEDs, we’re going to die.”

“Levi, we won’t die-” Armin didn’t want to hear anymore. He quickly made his way back upstairs, plopping himself in his desk chair and leaning back, tilting his feet up on the desk in a similar fashion to his adoptive father. Armin didn’t like- no, he flat out _refused_ to see the strongest men he knew at a complete loss. The blonde took note of the feeling of power washing over him, the greed and lust for more and more of...something. He wasn’t quite sure what yet. But then he let his feet down and slowly swiveled his chair to turn around, facing the shelf across the room that held his most prized position- his pistol. Blue eyes glossed over custom blue diamonds and a cursive double-A carved into the handle. Armin knew what he wanted now.

He wanted that Jaeger kid dead, along with Floch and Louise- those idiot recruits who were sent scrambling past him as he walked into his dad’s office a week ago. Luckily for the blonde, he had just the smarts to pull it off. He picked up his phone, swiping through his contacts and tapping on a contact.

“Hanji, I need your help.”

-

Okay, all Eren needed was a little liquid courage. Unfortunately, he was underage and had no desire to drink, so that’s why his right hand shakily clutched onto a white Monster drink while the other was shoved into the pocket of his hoodie as he approached Armin. The blonde waited against Kruger’s locker, leaning his back on the cool metal with his leg propped underneath and a book in hand. He glanced up, giving Eren a weary smile. No one, even the cheery ASB president, liked Monday mornings.

“Hey Kruger, what’s the word?” He said to the shaky brunette, tossing his backpack over to his front to put away his novel.

“Hey, morning. I, uh- nothing much,” he said, taking another sip of the Monster. It was extremely sweet. He bounced lightly from toe to toe as the caffeine flooded his veins- his hands were so shaky. It was at this moment Eren decided to never have any energy drink before school ever again. But, he felt like the situation was important.

As Armin and him grew closer, Eren’s little ‘Attractive Stranger’ crush had transformed itself into an ‘Actual Interest’ crush. Therefore, it made sense that Eren had chosen today to officially invite Armin over to his house for dinner. His parents wanted to meet the boy _“just as friends, Eren! No need to get all hostile”_ and Eren wanted to see what would happen if they were left alone in his bedroom together.

Oh yeah- he was gonna come out to Armin, too. Eren figured it was fairly rude to assume the blonde’s sexuality and frankly, a lot of problems generated through assumptions so might as well just come clean, right? So that’s gonna happen too, hence why Eren also needed a modified version of “liquid courage”. 

“Same,” Armin’s voice snapped Eren out of his inner monologue, “urgh, I’m just so tired!” The boy dramatically stretched his arms over his head, wiggling around as if to wiggle the tiredness out of him but unfortunately, Eren was _way_ too distracted by the way Armin’s sweatshirt lifted up a tiny bit, exposing the fair skin of his stomach and the faint trace of the boy’s happy trail. The brunette’s eyes shot back up to meet Armin, embarrassed by how easily his thoughts got away from him.

On the other side of the conversation, Armin _wished_ that he was stretching out the tiredness from Monday. He spent the entire night on the phone with Hanji- culminating a plan to get his parents’ out of the knee-deep shit they got stuck in.

_“Armin- you know that we need Erwin’s permissi-”_

_“Hanji, I hate to be rude, but I’m the heir to the business and I’d appreciate it if you just did as you’re told. Unless, y’know, you want Udo to get a surprise visit from me after school tomorrow…” Armin knew he was being a huge dick and frankly, he hated bringing Hanji’s nephew into the conversation just as a ploy. But, business was now business and he needed Hanji’s help because, without them, everything could possibly crash and burn._

_A sigh came from the other end of the line, “...you’re a real dick, kid. You sure I’m not talking to Erwin right now?” a dark chuckle followed and the typing sounds. Armin shrugged his shoulders even if no one saw, at least great minds thought alike._

And that phone call ended around 4am once he and Hanji were able to create a fail-safe plan. Armin couldn’t even pay attention while Kruger spoke because of how tired he was, but the plan still infiltrated his head.

_“Being held at the county jail temporarily…”_

_“Blow up the entrance…”_

_“Get the best recruits, the ones Levi trained personally…”_

_“Capture the Jaeger to repent- Hanji I don’t want to know anything about the kid. I’m telling you the plan that needs to be done and then I’m entrusting you to execute it properly without telling my dads…”_

“ARMIN!” The blonde jolted and let out a ‘yak!’ at Kruger’s voice. The brunette removed the hand he was waving in front of his friend’s face and his face looked concerned. “You alright, dude?” 

Armin just leaned his head forward, letting it fall onto Kruger’s shoulder, “Tired.”

Eren momentarily froze at the contact before bringing a tentative hand up to pat Armin’s head, “Late night?” A nod into his shoulder, “Damn, that sucks,” Eren sucked in a breath, “because I was gonna invite you over for dinner today.”

Slowly, Armin lifted his head and looked Kruger in the eyes sleepily.

“I’d love to, I just need to text my dads. I can probably take a nap during ASB, I’ll be okay.”

Despite the elation and adrenaline that shot through Eren’s veins, he still remained genuinely concerned.

“Armin, really- if you’re tired then you should go home after school.”

Armin considered his home. This morning, he found Levi at the table alone. Erwin had already gone to their hotel down the street to begin cleaning out business, arranging an important meeting among the hotel managers of all the hotels they owned to notify them of the news. Levi stayed behind and planned to show up at the meeting. It made the raven-haired man uncomfortable knowing that he wasn’t there to protect Erwin. Granted, Erwin graduated as one of the top people in his military class and was extremely skilled with a gun, but both men knew that Levi was all-around better. Levi hadn’t gone to the military in college like his lover, instead opting to major in business on a surprising full-ride that he achieved through his hardworking and impressive academics. Despite this, it didn’t change his upbringing. He knew how to use a knife before he made friends and knew specific alleys where he was sure to lose the cops. Levi understood how to pick even the hardest locks and had more speed, more stamina than anything Erwin had ever seen in the army.

 _“My commanding officer couldn’t even compare to you, Levi…”_ Erwin had said a year into their relationship. The blonde couldn’t believe his eyes at his then-boyfriend’s reaction to simply getting mugged. Levi turned with such grace, such ease, able to read his new opponent like a simple picture book. _“Where did you learn to fight like that?”_

And Levi knew he was good, too. He hated to hear it, but he knew his skill level was miles above anyone he had ever known. He could train recruits in their gang, but they could never act as he did, fight as he did. There was something about his fierceness, his quick reactions.

 _“You’re like, humanity’s strongest soldier…”_ Hanji had gaped at him the first time they met. They had gotten cornered in an alley with a pissed-off group from the Military Police- who were now the Scouts’ rival gang. The four men were all armed with semi-automatics, cornering them and taunting them. If you asked Hanji to recall, they’d tell you it was in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, there were four and then there was a _really really_ short one. _“You gonna keep standing there, four-eyes, or are you gonna give thanks?”_ Hanji dedicated their life to the Scouts from thereon.

All these experiences and Levi knew he was practically unbeatable. He could handle anything thrown at him, from punches to explosives. But Erwin? On his own? That was an unsure story, so Levi sat at the dining table unwilling to see his husband at work but dying to stand by his side in protection, you could never tell what would happen in a business like this. Armin took note of his father’s jitters, obviously, and gave him a quick hug before leaving. The blonde figured he wanted to get away from the home in order to give his dads privacy to make up but also to have one more normal day before he decided to submerge himself to the head in planning and executing his capture of the survivor. Armin didn’t know practically anything about the guy, all he knew was the last name _“Jaeger”._ He trusted Moblit and Hanji to flawlessly execute his plan, so he intended to meet Jaeger for the first time with him on his knees, begging Armin for his life. The fleeting thought made adrenaline run weakly through his veins, but for now, he allowed himself to just be a teenager. A teenager who goes over to his _really, really_ cute friend’s house.

“No, honestly I would like to come.” The bell signaled for their first period, “Meet me out front after school? I have to decorate posters during break and lunch for Valentine’s activity week.”

Eren nodded, gripping his backpack strap with determination and taking a huge swig of his Monster. “Sounds good- see you then.”

-

Armin did look better at the end of the school day. His hair was a bit frizzy, causing him to ask his co-president, Hannah, for a hair tie to tie it back, but other than that his appearance began more alive and glowing as opposed to the tired pale he was in the morning. He saw Kruger near the exit gate, smiling and walking his way over.

“Hey, good nap?” Armin nodded, closing his eyes. All humor aside, it _was_ a really good nap. Seriously, Mr. Magath just left the room and let Armin sleep in his desk chair and everyone else just watched Netflix on the Smartboard, prepping for the mental stress of grinding on decorating some bombass Valentine’s posters that advertised the school activities of the month.

“Alright, my brother takes us to school so we have to wait for them.”

“Brother?”

Eren laughed as he realized he never mentioned his older brother.

“Yeah! He’s a senior, he just joined the baseball team.” Armin’s mouth opened in realization.

“Jason, right?” Kruger turned to him, an odd smile on his face. Ew, fucking Jason. Mikasa got the only seemingly normal and fitting name of the three siblings, lucky bitch.

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“ASB helps narrate the video announcements and my friend and I narrated the baseball segment because their season is starting up. The coach talked about Jason being the new recruit and saying things looked hopeful- like, I don’t know anything about baseball but he throws it super fast,” Armin chuckled nervously after his little rant but Eren beamed with pride at the hearing of his brother. Zeke mentioned the segment over dinner earlier that week but didn’t say that much about it.

“I would’ve never figured you guys were related, though,” Armin thoughtfully added on but it definitely came out ruder than intended. The blonde became a flurry of apologies and Eren just laughed at him.

“Honestly, it’s all good. Jason and I are half-siblings and my sister, Zoe, is adopted,” Eren explained to Armin, the foreign names falling easily off his tongue. Jason, Kruger, and Zoe- what even was the process of choosing names in WITSEC.

Speaking of the devil, Eren felt two fingers jab into his sides, making him jump. He turned around, greeting Zeke with a casual bro hug and a chuckle. He then moved to Mikasa, teasing her about something irrelevant.

Armin was behind Kruger, looking up at his brother. 

_‘Big scary mountain Viking,’_ he thought and then glanced to Zoe, _‘No hetero, but perfection. Literal perfection.’_

His small analysis was cut short by Jason, who greeted him with a smile, “Hey, you’re Kruger’s friend, right?” The older boy turned around, putting Kruger into a headlock, “This little shrimp just won’t shut up about you!” Wow, he didn’t? Oh god, Armin could see their wedding already.

Eren’s cheeks flushed as he made feeble attempts to remove himself from Zeke’s grip. Mikasa shot her hand forward, trying to distract from the embarrassing pair of brothers, “Hi, I’m Zoe.” It was deadpan but nice for her standards, Armin could tell. 

Armin met Zoe’s hand, shaking it with a firm grip like Erwin had taught him. It asserted his dominance, not that he needed to assert anything around the family, but it was a formality that was engraved into his mind at this point.

“Alright, kiddos, let’s head home.”

The ride home wasn’t awkward while Kruger sat in the back with him. The siblings all ranted about their day, which made Armin comfortable enough to rant about his own.

“My day was really tiring to be honest, but my AP Chem teacher is a straight-up female dog,” Jason burst out laughing. 

“We aren’t your parents, Armin, you can swear.” Armin shook his head lightly, smiling.

“I only swear for good reasons. There are better words to use,” he said, continuing about his day and making the Smith siblings chuckle as they listened intently. They made it home, opening the door and Armin was immediately greeted by the scent of cookies. A beautiful woman poked her head around the corner, smiling when she graced her eyes upon the skinny blonde twig that graced her doorway beside her three children.

“Ah! I figured we were having a guest today!” She said, walking towards the door and wiping her hands on her apron. Armin was taken aback by her beauty, so _that’s_ where Kruger got it from. Armin stuck out his hand to greet her, smiling.

“Hi, Mrs. Smith! I’m Armin Arlert, Kruger’s friend, nice to meet you!” He said kindly. Eren glanced up as he took off his shoes, seeing his mom’s smile falter momentarily at the new name but staying her cheery self easily. She chuckled, going past Armin’s hand and pulling him into a hug.

“No need to be so stiff, honey! And please, call me Kate,” her warmth pulled away and Armin missed it, but immediately felt a soft hand patting his head. Kate was warm, welcoming, and everything Armin envisioned a ‘cool mom’ to be. She reminded him slightly of Nanaba.

“Oh, a guest is here?” He heard a deep voice coming from the hallway near the kitchen. A tall man appeared, circular glasses similar to Jason’s laying upon the bridge of his nose. His chin-length hair was lightly gelled down and tucked behind his ear, and the goatee added to the unruly sophisticated look.

 _‘DILF Alert, DILF Alert,’_ a signal went off in Armin’s head as the man approached him, hand sticking out.

“Hi, you must be Armin. I’m Carlos, the dad of those rambunctious children behind you,” the three Smith siblings fell into a quarrel as Carlos chuckled and shook Armin’s hand, “Glad to have you here, son.”

Eren pushed past his family, grasping Armin’s forearm and dragging him down the hall to his bedroom. He closed the door and looked at Armin, who stood in the middle of the room smiling.

“Your family...they’re really cool,” Kruger chuckled, walking past Armin and sitting on his bed.

“Yeah, I’m lucky to have ‘em,” Kruger patted a spot next to him, motioning Armin to sit next to him and the blonde listened. They both got comfortable as Kruger began grabbing books out of his backpack to start homework, Armin doing the same.

“Armin- can I tell you something really quick?”

 _‘Yes, Kruger, I will marry you even if it means I have to moan your name in bed,’_ “Yeah, sure.”

Eren sighed, turning to Armin. His heart rate sped up, the words on the tip of his tongue before he finally word vomited.

“Listen, I think you’re really cool and I really wanna be good friends with you- I mean, I like to think we’re really good friends so that’s why I’m telling you this- but what I’m trying to tell you is that I’m gay and if that’s a problem that would really suck-” he was cut off by Armin doubling over, laughing wildly. The blonde wiped tears from his eyes and Kruger looked horrified.

“Why are you laughing?”

Armin peeked up, smiling through his long hair, “Kruger, I’m gay, too.”

Eren’s chest deflated in relief and his head fell into his hands. He shoved Armin with his shoulder as the blonde continued to cackle, “What the fuck, man.”

Armin ceased his laughing, still chuckling here and there. It was funny, but the better thing now is that he _genuinely_ had a chance with Kruger now. His heart fluttered lightly as both boys picked back up on their homework, easily keeping the conversation as they both worked through it. Half an hour later, Kruger clambered over Armin to make his way to the bathroom. Having Kruger’s weight momentarily on top of him was enough to fuel his thoughts once he was home alone in his bed, and upon Kruger’s exit, Armin stood up to stretch, surveying the room. He glanced at the band posters that sat on Kruger’s desk, still waiting to be unrolled and hung up. Eventually, his eyes scanned over the dresser. There was some clutter on it, but the one thing that stood out the most was an unframed photo. Armin slowly made his way to it, picking it up and observing the group of people that were burned into the photograph.

Kruger was hunched over a dining table, smiling cheekily at the camera. His hair was a bit longer, running down and curled away from his neck and there was something that looked like frosting smeared along his cheek. A light blush coated his cheeks and behind him, a boy with freckles clutched onto his back tightly. Behind him, Zoe propped herself up on the table and hugged them both. The boy with two-toned hair behind her looked at Zoe with a certain fondness, and at this point, Armin noted that everyone had a light blush coating their cheeks along with a cooking ingredient of some sort smeared on their face or clothes. Behind two-tone was a girl with a soft smile, she held gently onto two-tone's waist and looked thoughtfully into the camera. Behind her was a shorter boy with buzzed, silver hair. He had his arms hooked underneath hers and pressed tightly against her, smirking lightly.

They all looked so...happy. 

He flipped it over for no particular reason, Armin just felt like it. He was shocked though, to see writing scattered all over the back. The top had a neatly written “ _Happy 16th Birthday, Eren!_ ” and below it in the same handwriting wrote, “ _Happy Birthday Eren, I love you so much. Xoxo, your favorite sister -Mikasa”_

Below it, other notes were written:

_“Happy birthday, suicidal bastard. Fuck you :D -Jean (better than you)”_

_“Happy birthday Errie!! Mwah mwah -Hisu”_

_“Happy sweet 16 Eren! I hope today was awesome! -Marco”_

_“Happy birthday from your favorite duo! Sasha would write a note but she’s eating and you’ll be back from the bathroom soon lol. Love you man! -Condog and Sasha”_

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Eren? Mikasa? Clearly, that was Kruger and Zoe in the photo, right?

“Hey Armin dinner’s re- what are you doing?” Armin jumped, making the photo fall from his hand and the side containing the writing landed face up. Kruger rushed towards it, picking it up and moving to shove it underneath the pile of posters on his desk.

“Kruger- I’m so sorry I was being so invasive I didn’t mean to do anything I was honestly just curious I-” Kruger put his hands up, signalling a halt.

“Armin- it’s not that deep, it’s just a photo. I just don’t want anything to happen to it,” The brunette nervously chuckled. How much did Armin see?

“Can I ask a question, though?” Kruger nodded slowly.

“Uh- were those your friends? From...before you moved?” The brunette laughed, shaking his head.

“Yeah, they were our squad since kindergarten. We never broke or anything, up until we had to move because of my dad’s job.” Eren sighed sadly, reminiscing on his friends and their lost memories. The things he would do to just see them all again.

Armin nodded understandingly, attempting to piece everything together.

“Also- who’s uh, Eren and Mikasa?” Kruger froze in his place and Armin noticed it, like he always did. It was momentary but it happened. 

Eren craved the way his name rolled off Armin’s tongue. How natural each syllable poured out from his angel mouth, forming soundwaves and hitting Eren’s ears in pure bliss. He shook it off though, regaining his composure.

“Uh, what?”

“On the back of the photo,” Armin motioned a hand to the desk, “it was Eren’s birthday and Mikasa was his sister. You seemed to be the center of attention- are you...Eren?”


	6. Woah- This is Definitely Too Fast for a Slowburn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EEEE i really dont have much to say other than thank you guys for the support on this fic it means the worllldddd too meeee<333333 mwah mwah :D okay that's it, onto chapter 6!

Eren began to panic. Armin was too smart for his own good, of course he would piece it together so easily. He scanned his brain for an excuse as Armin kept talking, “and Zoe is Mikasa...right? Mikasa signed it to say from your favorite sister, and none of the others looked like siblings-”

Eren began to laugh nervously, loudly enough to startle Armin and cut the blonde off completely.

_ ‘Dear God, if you’re out there, just take me now. As long as I don’t get killed off by the Scouts like a weak sauce, you can take me as long as it’s soon,’  _ he thought because oh fuck- this was nowhere near the daydream he had about the night. At this point, Armin was supposed to be giving Eren a blowjob but now look where we are? Identity blown and fear making bile rise in his throat.

“They were uh-” Eren laughed a little more, trying to make it convincing, “...roleplay, uh, names.”

Armin’s face twisted in confusion at Kruger (Eren?). Roleplay names? Armin never took the Smith siblings as two people to roleplay. Mentally, the blonde sighed. As long as they didn’t have fursonas, it would be okay. Not that Armin had anything against furries, but he really liked Kruger and he didn’t want to partake in recreational semi-Beastiality.

“Roleplay names?” Armin repeated out loud, trying to make it make sense.

Eren had a hard time keeping his composure. He kept his eye contact with Armin easily, though, rubbing a hand behind his neck. The brunette continued to play along with his lie, “Uh...yeah?”

“Okay, what for…?” Ugh, Armin. Always so curious, wasn’t he? Eren quickly searched the depths of his mind for a story, remembering a nightmare he had after the Scouts attack and using it.

“Uh, when we were like little- yeah, when we were little,” Oh, keep stuttering Eren. I’m sure you’re gonna make a real good actor one day, “we all like, roleplayed and called each other different names.” Well no shit, Sherlock, “we pretended- uh, we pretended we were like members of this group that used this like, gear and stuff, to kill these huge giants.”

Eren sighed as the lie tumbled effortlessly out of his mouth. It was getting easier as the seconds passed.

Armin wasn’t buying it, though. Armin looked at Kruger incredulously and started to ask for more information. If Kruger could back his story, Armin would believe him.

“What were the names of the others?” Damn, hard hitter for the first question. Eren didn’t even have the photo in hand to reference, so he realized he had to just make up three boy names and a girl name. He could do this, right?

“Do you want me to point them out to you?” Armin squinted his eyes but nodded. Eren turned around, shakily grabbing the photo from underneath the posters and examining it. He walked over, heart-clenching in grief. It felt like they all died when he moved away, the photo brought great waves of happiness that weren’t able to drown out the tsunami of grief. Eren lifted the photo to show Armin, pointing at Marco, whose arms were wrapped around his waist.

“That’s Jacob, but we called him Marco.” Yikes, Eren was as bad at coming up with new names as WITSEC. He mentally prayed to Marco for forgiveness, “You remind me a lot of him, really nice.” Armin nodded along, following Kruger’s finger as the brunette pointed to two-tone. He glanced at Kruger’s face, which somehow was a cross between a gentle smile and a scowl.

“His name is Zack. I called him Horseface, but everyone else called him Jean.” Armin took note of the unnatural longevity of ‘Zack's face, chuckling at Kruger’s joke. Eren realized Armin’s shoulders go lax, meaning that the blonde was beginning to believe him.

“Then those two,” Kruger split two fingers to point at the last two, “that’s Kayla and Manny, but we called them Connie and Sasha. Or Con-dog,” Eren chuckled at the self-made nickname from Connie, “they were like two peas in a pod, wherever one was, you found the other within a ten-foot radius.”

Armin nodded, examining the picture before they heard Kate calling for them, saying their dinner was running cold. 

They both made for the door and Kruger set the photo back in its place on the dresser, opening the door for Armin and walking out after him.

“Kruger?”

“Hm?”

“Can you tell me about that...roleplay world….after dinner?” Kruger laughed, if it was a nervous one Armin couldn’t tell, and continued his trek to the dining room. “Yeah, of course.”

-

Recalling the dream was the hardest part, but Eren always had a vivid imagination so the blanks were easy enough to fill in.

“So, we were apart of this group, right?” Armin eagerly nodded his head. They were sitting on the bed, homework long abandoned, and facing each other. Eren opted to sit cross while Armin tucked his knees to his chest, resting his chin as he stared at Kruger.

“And basically, we had this like gear- and it was fucking  _ cool.  _ So we were apart of like- like, the military, but we were only in training.”

“Wait-” Armin cut off, “why didn’t you guys just be a part of the military?”

Kruger frowned, “We didn’t want to be killed,” Armin nodded, “so anyways- we would fight these giant humans, right? We called them titans and you could only kill them by slicing the back of their neck. These things were huge, too! The smallest ones were supposed to be as tall as a traffic light pole,” Eren was getting too good at lying, he decided, but Armin kept up as he told the entire ‘story’, fabricating an entire new world as he spoke. 

“So why did you guys call each other different names, though?” Should Eren make it deep or basic? If he told Armin they made different personas to portray a new, stronger, better version of themselves to motivate them through life struggles, would he believe it? ...Probably not.

“Nah, we just wanted to. It was fun that way, so it stuck.”

“So why Eren? Unique spelling and everything, a little advanced for a kid to choose.” Eren laughed, stalling time with his chuckles to make an excuse.

“Ah, Zoe and I just used our middle names. Mine is Eren and her’s was Mikasa, I think it was her birth mom’s name or her birth grandmother's name.” Eren waved a dismissive hand, pondering Mikasa’s ‘name origin’, was he too specific? Well, Armin was smiling, so he seemed to buy it.

To which, against his better judgment, Armin did believe Kruger. He knew, deep down in his heart, that Kruger wasn’t a bad guy. Therefore, even if Kruger  _ was  _ lying, it would be for an extremely good reason. And then their night went on, doing their homework until 7pm when Levi called Armin.

“Hey Dad,” Armin answered on the bed. Eren didn’t look up from what he was doing, Armin’s business was Armin’s business and he didn’t want to eavesdrop.

“ _ Mon bébé,  _ do you need a ride home? We want you back by ten.”

Armin glanced at Kruger, asking if he had a car. The brunette nodded back, saying he could use his parents’ to take Armin home, “Yeah, he can.”

“ _ Can we meet him yet?” _ Erwin called in the background.

_ “NO!” _ Armin squealed loudly, making Kruger jump and Armin flashed an apologetic smile, “not yet,” he said quieter. Levi’s chuckle filled the other end of the line before they said their “I love you”s and hung up. The blonde began to pack up his homework, making himself comfier on the bed. Kruger followed suit, lying down and staring at the ceiling.

“Armin?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell me about yourself,” Armin laughed, turning onto his side and tucking both hands between his head and the pillow, curling up lightly. It smelled solely of Kruger, cinnamony and musky, and Armin wasn’t one to get drunk on  _ any  _ kind of substance but in this moment he decided he could perhaps make the exception to the way Kruger smelled. It made his heart do flip-flops.

“What do you want to know?” Kruger followed suit more casually, laying on his side and propping up an elbow. He glanced down at Armin, slightly looming over him. 

Oh fuck yeah, the Jaegermeister was in town and he was making moves to get that dick. Eren even made sure his bicep flexed lightly on the arm that was propping up his head, lightly putting on a show which he knew Armin was taking note of by the way his blue eyes draped up and down Eren’s body. Not that Eren  _ did _ intend on getting some, because they had only really known each other for two weeks, but he was going to put a plan in motion to hopefully get some in the future (let’s just ignore the fact that he was a blushing virgin to everything else except kissing for now).

“Anything...everything…” Kruger smirked lightly, leaning downwards and heavier into his hand. Armin tilted his head up to get a better view of Kruger’s face, maintaining eye contact. In this way, to Eren, Armin looked so innocent and nearly angelic. In the mediocre lighting of his ceiling lights, looking up at Eren with those big, puppy dog eyes. It made the inner flamboyant-gay-guy in him almost come out and motion a loose wrist.

Armin giggled cutely, playing along with Kruger’s act, “You gotta be more specific than that.”

“I don’t know, what makes your skin crawl? What makes you jump for joy? What’s your opinion on the Stock Market?...What kind of guys do you like?” Eren drew out the last question, avoiding Armin’s eyes and looking down at their hands. Both laid on their own laps, mere inches away from each other.

Armin giggled again, more innocently, before answering, “Uh, I really hate this one person but I don’t know their name, really. Or what they look like. They just manage to ruin everything, to be honest,” Kruger’s ears perked up, looking at Armin.

“How do you hate someone you don’t even know?’

Armin sighed, “They just...really make business hard for my dads, so it’s a hate by association. They’re just really stressed out over it and have to alter a lot of plans in order to deal with this one person.” Kruger nodded thoughtfully, nodding his head as if to say that it checked out.

“That person seems like a real dick.”

Armin sighed, “They are… but besides that, the ocean makes me jump for joy.” Kruger’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Really?” Armin hummed in confirmation, “I’ve always loved it, ever since I was little. It was like, me and my birth-parents’ thing, so it makes it special now...also, I know I’m smart and everything but I don’t pay attention to stocks. Frankly, it makes my brain hurt and my dads are in business so they can just teach me what they know.”

This made the brunette across from him laugh in agreement, tailing off on stocks, and honestly, what even were stocks? Both boys didn’t know, did anybody really?

“And...I’ve never really had time for romantic interests because I’m always occupied with my dads’ business and books but…” he trailed off, making eye contact with Kruger daringly and smiling, “I like to think I’m attracted to brunettes who have green eyes and are concerningly hot-headed.” 

Eren got the hint, laughing and heart fluttering. He looked down at the space between them, nodding his head and smiling, “Ok, yeah- that was really smooth,” making Armin laugh in return, scooting closer to Kruger on the pillows and moving his hand, looking down and playing with Kruger’s fingers. After a few seconds, Kruger boldly just let his hand slip into Armin’s. Their fingers didn’t intertwine but instead just laid there, enjoying the touch.

“What about you?” Armin looked back up, a lot closer to Kruger than he anticipated.

“Uh- I hate strawberries, honestly. The seeds make me gag. I love dogs but my parents won’t get me one, which really fucking sucks because I’ve always wanted a dog. I hate stocks, it’s boring, and I like guys who have blonde hair and have eyes like the ocean.”

Armin blushed, laughing lightly, “Okay first off- strawberries are delicious, you have baby tastebuds. I love dogs too but I don’t have time to take care of a pet, and could you be any more cheesy about the eye thing?” Kruger gaped at him.

“What do you want me to say?! You like the ocean, it felt right.” The air was light-hearted and filled with the innocence of teenage romance. Eren, himself, was slowly beginning to be intoxicated by it. Obviously, he had crushes before. Passing strangers, Jean that one time but he never talked about, but he had never felt so drawn to someone as he felt to Armin. One day, maybe even soon, he hoped to tell Armin his full story. His real name, his real family. All about the adventures of his child, his highschool. He wanted to open up to Armin about his attack and how it completely changed his life- a multitude of things Eren longed for and couldn’t have. But here, in the safety of his new bedroom, the back and forth banter, he felt safe and his heart beat rapidly as the feeling ran down his spine in the form of light shivers.

Their faces were close, too close to back away. Both boys were entranced by the other and inwardly, both of them fought. Would it be weird? They’ve only known each other for two weeks? Should they just go full send?

“Have you ever been kissed before?” Kruger’s voice was just above a whisper, his voice throaty and deep. Armin shook his head no lightly, inching forward hesitantly.

“Can you be my first?” He asked back, and Kruger’s eyes made a quick glance down at Armin’s lips as he removed his hand from underneath his head to lean downwards, balancing on his elbow and bringing his other hand up to softly caress Armin’s cheek. 

“Tell me if you want me to stop, okay?”

As Kruger talked, Armin could nearly feel the movement of his words against his own lips and Kruger’s hot breath didn’t really help out with the blush that fanned across his pale cheeks. 

The brunette barely leaned forward, but it was enough to connect their lips. Eren kept his lips there, wanting to fully register the feeling of Armin, before he pulled back. Armin’s eyes stayed closed before they fully opened again, searching Kruger’s eyes. They both smiled lightly and Armin let out a soft whisper.

“Again.” Kruger was happy to oblige. He dipped down once again, connecting their lips. Armin’s lips were hot and chapped, probably because he always would awkwardly spread his lips into that weird white-people-smile, but they still somehow felt just right. Experimentally, Eren moved his lips and waited to see a reaction.

On the other end, Armin had completely and absolutely no idea what he was doing. All he knew was that Kruger’s lips were on him and it made his heart race, so when Kruger moved his lips, Armin mindlessly just began to mimic his motions and follow his lead. The blonde had never really been one to indulge in himself often, so the feeling of his heart pounding out of his chest was extremely unnatural and scary, yet his mind chanted.

_ More, more, more. _

So the blonde obeyed, lifting his head from where it laid on the pillows and pushing against Kruger harder, moving his hand to grip on his neck. Kruger did the same, pushing more against Armin for more friction, more  _ something _ , and like a domino effect, Armin was pushed onto his back and Kruger hovered over him lightly, pulling away. No tongue had been introduced, so both boy’s lips were only lightly moist. Kruger stuck his own tongue out, poking and licking up whatever residue was on his lips. Upon seeing the action, Armin mimicked and did the same quickly.

Underneath him, Armin looked so beautiful. Arms draped near his head when they fell from Eren’s neck, blush innocently coating his cheeks and his head slightly turned from embarrassment, and his hair splayed across the pillow like sunrays. The brunette’s hands were now pressed gently into the pillow on either side of Armin’s head and he leaned down again. Armin lifted up, anticipating the meet, but Kruger stopped halfway.

“Is this okay, can I do...more?”

Armin didn’t exactly know how much this ‘more’ entailed, but it’s not like he cared because he shot his hands up and looped them around Kruger’s neck, yanking him down and reconnecting them. They continued where they left off, but somehow Kruger maneuvered himself to fit in between Armin’s legs. Their chests were pressed flush together, Armin’s palm laying flat against Kruger’s back to ensure that there would be little space left between them. With a bout of courage, Eren poked his tongue out and lightly swiped it against Armin’s lip. The blonde gasped and let out a tiny moan, fuelling the brunette to keep going. He did the move again, but Armin wasn’t really sure of how to respond, so he just opened his mouth slightly wider and moved his tongue outwards, trying to mimic whatever the hell Kruger was doing. The boy above him chuckled and brought a hand to Armin’s chin. Their slow pace was perfect as Kruger pressed his thumb into Armin’s chin, opening his mouth slightly wider than he had placed. They continued what they did before, Kruger’s thumb giving perfect placement for their tongues to glide across each other’s, causing both boys to quietly groan. Armin’s hands tangled themselves with the hairs that splayed along Kruger’s nape, tugging whenever their tongues would meet.

Kruger pulled off, a mere three inches, and this time a thin line of spit connected their bottom lips. Eren swiped his thumb across his bottom lip, collecting it and then bringing it back down to Armin’s mouth, lightly running the finger across the blonde’s swollen bottom lip before pushing it in lightly. Armin didn’t really understand it, but it did make him feel all hot and flustered, so he just mimicked what he saw in the porn he watched (on rare occasions) and gave the thumb a light suck, swirling his tongue to collect the saliva and keeping eye contact with Kruger.

The brunette’s eyes grew at seeing Armin’s cheeks slightly hollow, along with the feeling of his small, sharp tongue lapping about at his thumb. Eren gently removed it, licking the pad of his own thumb, before leaning forward again and giving Armin a soft peck. He removed himself gently, leaning over Armin with a small smirk. Armin did the same, his dimples making an appearance.

“I like you.”

“I like you, too.”

Armin’s phone went off, signaling it was 8pm and time for him to leave. Technically, he didn’t have to be home until 10, but he didn’t want to keep Kruger up no matter how much he wanted to stay and makeout. The blonde looked to the side and moved his hand, trying to find his phone. Unfortunately, the stretch of his neck looked simply too appetizing for the boy above him, and Eren found himself slowly licking a stripe up Armin’s neck.

“Oh fu-frick,” Armin gasped, whipping his head back to look at Kruger and caught himself before swearing.

Kruger laughed, getting off of Armin and leaning over to turn off the alarm, “I’m gonna make you swear one day, keep that in mind.” Armin rolled his eyes, sitting up to gather his bag, “As if.”

Kruger tsked, getting up off the bed and picking up his phone, going to the camera and adjusting his hair. When he turned back, Armin was sitting on the edge of the bed with his backpack on. The boy put down his phone and made his way to stand between Armin’s legs, dipping down and kissing him again, embracing the feeling. When it started to escalate, Armin gently pressed his hands against Kruger’s chest, lowkey feeling him up as he pushed away. The blonde gave a quick peck before standing up and making his way to the door. He opened it and looked back at Kruger, holding his hand out. The brunette shook his head and smiled, walking over and taking it. Intertwining their fingers, they made their way to the living room and past the Smith family. As Armin went to open the door, he turned back with him and Kruger still holding hands. He gave a cheery wave with the free one, smiling, “Goodbye Smith family, thank you for having me over and thank you for dinner, Kate!” He beamed.

Noticing their hands, the family smiled and Kate waved back, “Of course, Armin! You are welcome here anytime!”

Both boys made their exit to the car and the family turned back to each other, giving looks.

“Well, Eren seems to be settling in nicely,” Grisha said, breaking their ‘Smith’ facade.

Zeke and Mikasa began to bicker, pointing accusing fingers at each other and debating over who was the first one to call that they were somewhat together (It was Mikasa and Zeke knew it, he was just being a dick) and Carla was just laughing.

“You’re just mad because Eren has more game than you!” Mikasa yelled, crossing her arms. Zeke put his hands up in defeat, laughing, “It’s different! He dates dudes, it’s probably so much easier. I should try it out because women are weird and confusing.”

The little sister gasped, hitting his shoulder, “Maybe if you shaved that stupid mountain beard of yours, it wouldn’t be like that,” which began a whole new argument.

-

A few minutes away from the house, Kruger decided to stop by 7-Eleven. He convinced Armin it was necessary because he had money, he was craving a Slurpee, and Armin had never had a Slurpee which should be against the law. Armin waited in the passenger seat, eyeing up the three shady figures that stood near the old, worn-out newspaper posts. They were smoking cigarettes, nodding at what the other was saying, but his attention changed when Kruger exited the store with two Slurpees in hand. 

He was barely a step out of the door when the hooded men came up to Kruger. Standing at a mere 5’7”, they easily towered over him. Armin couldn’t see much, but Kruger’s face began to morph into something close to pure rage. The shortest one pushed him back, and that’s when all hell broke loose. The brunette made for the guy’s hood, uncovering it and dumping the Slurpee's contents all over the attacker’s hair.

On the flip side, Eren was purely mad as he dumped the drink all over the guy. He refused to have a repeat of before, so he was ready to give all hell. He threw the other Slurpee into the eyes of the attacker on the left, blinding him momentarily enough for Eren to quickly get a punch in. He stumbled back and attempted to reconvene as Eren turned his attention to the next two. He couldn’t even hear or see Armin come out of the car, so it was a shock to see Armin suddenly jump on the back of the tallest one. He struggled under the blonde’s grip but Eren didn’t have time to be in shock as the next two came at him. Slurpee-head missed his jaw by inches while Slurpee-eyes suddenly knocked Eren to the ground. Slurpee-eyes was then on top of him, but it was no match for Eren’s pure fury. He snapped, rolling the guy over and punching his face repeatedly until a sickening crack came from his nose. He got up, unconcerned, and went to help Armin, only to see the blonde masterfully taking out the two men. 

His body moved gracefully, obviously pre-trained and making the attackers look completely stupid. Seriously, this 5’3” He-man look alike just somehow flipped the tallest one on his ass, putting him in shock before jumping in the air and flipping sideways, delivering a powerful roundhouse kick to the other’s face and he landed easily, standing over their bodies. 

When Armin turned his head over his shoulder, Kruger stood there in shock while he looked over Armin’s handiwork. 

“Kruger- the car! Forget about them!” Wordlessly, Kruger followed Armin into the seats and they drove away, forgetting to bother with their seatbelts. The car ride was silent, the only thing speaking was Siri as she kindly gave the directions to Armin’s house. When they pulled up, the front porch light was on but both of his dads’ cars were nowhere to be seen. Armin turned to Kruger, taking advantage of the extra time.

“Kruger, I-”

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” Armin’s mouth hung open, still ready to deliver the rest of his previous sentence, but stopping. The blonde swallowed, looking down, “My dads.”

“Why would they do that?” “Self-protection.”

He looked back up at Kruger, who stared forward and nodded. He kept his glare at the road in front before starting, “That was some kind of military, karate, freestyle pow-wow you had going on there. Not really common for someone to teach something so complex to their kid,” he pressed on.

Armin shrugged his shoulders because  _ technically _ he wasn’t lying.

“My dad just had a rough upbringing so it was a precaution he took.”

“Who the fuck could you possibly be running from to use something like that? Military moves are lethal, you know.” Yes, Armin knew, because he practically had the weight of the Trost and Sina Police Department on his shoulders at all times.

“I don’t know, but it’s just muscle memory now.” Finally, Kruger turned to Armin with a small frown on his face. The brunette leaned forward, kissing him. It escalated quickly, tongues entering in desperation before Armin pulled away.

“You’re not mad at me, are you?” Kruger scoffed, looking down at the center console.

“Not mad, just shocked,” he looked back up, “didn’t know little ol’ you packed such a punch.”

Armin laughed and Kruger gave a small smile, the down mood finally picking back up. Armin leaned in again, giving Kruger a quick peck before making his way to grab his backpack. As his hand laid on the door handle, he looked back.

“See you at school?” 

Kruger reached out, taking Armin’s hand and squeezing it lightly before retracting it.

“See you at school.”


	7. Ayo Homicide Check ?? Also, Eren is in the Hospital Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eee yall im so tired,, this week,,, but ldsakjfhalfjh whatever :p lowkey filler tbh, and I'll try replying to comments soon! just have been preoccupied with trying to keep up with school eeee okay enough about that LMFAO and onto chapter 7 <3

Despite what he told Kruger, Armin wasn’t at school the next day. Instead, he was downtown at Hanji’s apartment, having coffee. 

“Hey Hanj, thanks for letting me come over today, I wanted to talk about the pl-” Hanji dismissively waved their arms, cackling.

“Enough with the formalities- who was the  _ boy  _ you were with last night?!” They gushed, ushering Armin to the couch in the middle of the room. His cheeks heated up and the blonde boy turned to the crazed scientist with disbelief.

“My dads told you?!” He cried as his face scrunched with pure fluster and shame. 

“No- well they told me you were out with a friend, so I sent some new recruits to stalk you and test the guy and  _ wow! _ The cameras I planted on their bodies couldn’t even capture that kid’s strength! If you guys turn out well, we could  _ totally  _ turn this kid into a Scout on the front line- '' Armin slapped a hand over their mouth, flinching lightly when a slobbery tongue licked over his palm in resistance, but Armin refused to remove his hand.

“We are  _ not  _ turning him into a Scout...and I cannot believe you stalked me with new recruits! He saw me fight!”

Hanji removed Armin’s hand, lips turned into a frown, “Are you blind, my little Coconut? Everyone’s gonna be stunned when you pull moves like that, but from what I saw on the cams, he was totally swooning over you!” They singsonged, grabbing Armin’s hands and spinning them both around happily. Armin quickly pulled them to a stop. “Hanji, seriously, did you get the file?”

A flip switched. Hanji’s raised eyebrows quickly relaxed and their face set into a scowl, the crazed dazzle in their brown eyes muting down to a peep.

“No.” Their voice dropped to a humorless tone. Work-Hanji turned on their heel, grabbing two previously made coffee mugs from the kitchen. Sighing, Armin made himself comfy on the couch and pulled a notebook and pen out of his backpack, flipping to the next open page. He gracefully took the mug from Hanji, giving his thanks and scooting over so they could sit beside him.

“What did you tell your dads?”

“I told them I wanted to use my semester skip-school card to come watch you experiment with the new stuff we got in,” He said quietly, jotting down a few main points of his scheme, “Why didn’t you get the file? Was it not on his desk?”

The brunette sighed, rubbing their temples.

“Ever since Floch and Louise got put under custody, they changed the locks to everything. They don’t want to give any keys to anyone except the ultimate higher-ups, which is only me, Moblit, and Miche, but we won’t get those for another month because they want to see how the police situation plays out.”

Armin scoffed, jotting more things down on the piece of paper:

  * _Obtain survivor file_



  *     * _Failed; changed locks - copy keys while im out of the house, take off key ring while distracted_


  * Capture survivor


  *     * Isolated area ? Scout headquarters ? must not involve dads


  * Kill / hide body 


  *     * Use new chemicals imported recently - more experimentation needed with bone disintegration for teeth



The teenager sighed while looking over the simple notes. It all looked so easy when it was laid down on paper. I mean, it was only three things, how hard could it be to execute a flawless kidnapping and murder? Very hard- it could be very hard.

“We have to break them out,” Armin said, tossing the pen down in frustration and taking a large gulp of coffee. Hanji continued to loom over his shoulder, checking out the bullet points.

“Do you still keep in touch with the night guard from when we had problems with the Military Police?” Ah, the Military Police, the Scouts’ rival gangs. Erwin let Armin oversee one shipment and  _ damn,  _ those guys were dicks.

“I destroyed my burner when I made that trip to Arizona, so no. But-” Hanji picked up the pen, scribbling a map on the rest of the paper space, “I remember the layout of the vents of the ground floor; I crawled through in order to get an MP that tried to undersell us by nearly 10 g’s.”

A basic outline of the ground floor was drawn by the scientist, including thicker lines that represented the ventilation system.

“If we get through here,” they drew an arrow to map the course, “I’m nearly sure that the basic holding cell would be about here,” a large circle was drawn near the back of the map. Armin nodded as his gears turned.

“You have their files. Right?” His hands clasped together and he rested his chin upon them. Hanji hummed a confirmation, and he began nodding. “Good. Place bombs along the front of the parking lot, it’ll force the front yards to rush it,” Armin drew across the page wildly as he spoke, but Hanji was able to follow along to his madness easily as his ideas effortlessly manifested themselves and spilled from his mouth.

“Use the ODM gear to crawl along the ceilings, have a figurative Squad A go to the right stairwell to the holding cell,” he circled a room, “and have a figurative Squad B take to the left and find the chief’s office. Have Moblit come and break into the security cams to hijack them, he can stay in the getaway van or come with- I really don’t care.” A quick pause sounded for an in sync gulp of coffee.

“Take out the guards, take the keys, get them out using the ODM gear, easy peasy.” He threw the pen down, examining his makeshift work with pride. Hanji leaned over, staring at the drawing and Armin piped up again, “Use the whistle to locate them in the holding cells, there are usually multiples.”

“And what if they don’t cooperate?”

Armin lowered his head darkly, chuckling, “Then I hope they are okay with being the reason their immediate and extended family is tortured and slaughtered. If we threaten that with a public display of the bodies, they won’t be able to say no- they’re weak-minded rookies.”

Hanji’s head turned slowly to their left, looking at Armin in horror. As if the boy was in a trance, his head shook and his eyes went wide, shooting to make eye contact with Hanji. He gave a wrecked, nervous smile, putting his hands up in mercy, “U-Uh! Just kidding…!”

The brunette next to him gave a hearty laugh, slapping him on the back.

“You’ve got a helluva mind, Baby Coconut, but I think we’ll save the public displays until we’re overthrowing the government.” The blonde nodded, knowing he went slightly too far.

“I’ll still track both of their immediate families, though, you’re right about the weak-minded part.”

Hanji stood up, grabbing both their mugs in order for a refill. They came back, setting down the mugs and leaning back against the couch, taking casual sips.

“Are you sure you’re ready to kill someone, Armin? You really want to take over the Scouts?”

The blonde sighed, closing his eyes. Was he ready to take a human life? Was someone really born and destined to be killed?

“It can be me, you know. Your dad is right, you shouldn’t be involved in-”

“Then how will I be able to take over, Hanji?! If I can’t do it now, I can’t in the future.”

“You will have a sentence weighing over your head. It’ll mess with your conscience and general well-being.” Fuck Hanji’s degree in Psychology, Armin decided at this moment.

“I will kill them, Hanji, and that is final. I am ready to kill a person.”

The brunette put their hands up in mercy, shaking their head.

“Okay, all you, Bossman.” They reached forward, picking up the notebook and closing it, kicking back and Armin falling into their side. The scientist wrapped a protective arm around the teenager, rubbing his arm.

“You’re a real dick, Armin. You know I wouldn’t be helping you right now if you weren’t threatening my own family, right?” He nodded, “And you know you’re an asshole for putting my nephew in danger?” Another nod, “And that I’m thoroughly pissed off at you beyond belief and can’t believe you’d do this to me after practically being family since the day you were adopted?” More nodding, “Good.” The scientist leaned their head down, getting comfier in their spot. Armin sighed into the fabric of Hanji’s button-up shirt, curling into their side as he used to when he was younger.

“I still love you, Coconut. I know you’re doing this for them, It was the last thing either of them said as they fell into a quick nap, awaking soon after to repair ODM gear and make new equipment for the planned jailbreak.

-

Likewise, Eren wasn’t at school that day either.

“Number 1, please step forward and say the following line, ‘I will kill you.”

The first man stepped forward, as told. Eren could already tell it wasn’t him, he was too tall, his shoulders were too broad, and his hair didn’t have a stupid-looking swoop on top. The man repeated the line back and Eren shook his head, making the suspect step back and the next one come forward. Eren didn’t pay much attention, eyes traveling downward. Number 4 was clenching his fists tightly by his side, a bead of nervous sweat collecting at his hairline. Eren could almost feel the wind blow around him by the swinging of the grappling-hook gear when he scanned the man. He could recall the way the man had blown past his side, circling over his head with his partner. The reclining and forward zipping noises as the grappling hooks would detach from one brick, only to reattach itself to a new surface and propel the attacker forwards, sideways, anywhere they pleased. 

Both of them teased Eren in his sleep, taunting him whilst circling him like hawks preparing to devour their prey. Seeing him there, in the flesh, completely vulnerable with no advantages, made something surge through his veins. Was it fear? Satisfaction? The only thing keeping him grounded was Pixis’ voice calling for each suspect.

“Number 4, please step forward.” He did, and that stupid auburn bird’s nest on top created an odd shadow. 

“I will kill you.”

Eren shook his head, trembling. The entire reason he was in this mess was right there in front of him, a wave of emotions suddenly coming down over him. He lifted a shaky finger, pointing at the man who still stood forward, looking straight ahead.

“Him, it was him!” Eren’s voice came out more rushed than he expected. His ass hurts- wasn’t he still a virgin? Oh- he fell backward onto the ground, ouch. He was shaking still. Can everyone speak up, please? You all sound a million miles away…

“Pixis, he’s in going into shock!” 

“Elevate his feet- we have paramedics coming in! Move, move!”

Black furrowed around the edges of Eren’s vision. He fought against it helplessly, but everything felt so heavy. Ah, the abyss has come.

-

Eren awoke to the unnatural and uncomforting smell of antiseptic. The sheets that covered his body itched uncomfortably and rubbed against his arms in the worst way possible. The brunette finally found the strength to open his eyes, stretching them forcefully and glancing around the room.

It was your general one-person hospital room, save for the sleeping Mr. and Mrs. Jaeger in the chairs next to his bed. Aww, how cute, they were trying to cuddle over the chair handles. He turned his head to the heart monitor, which beeping slowly increased as he became more aware of his surroundings. Seemed he wasn’t the only one who noticed, as two doctors and Pixis quickly entered the room. Carla and Grisha woke up from their catnap, eyes immediately making their way over to their son.

“Ere- Kruger!” She shot up, only to be held back by the first doctor.

“Mrs. Smith, I need you to calm down. Your son is in stable condition but we need to do a quick check on his vitals, you may stay in the room with your husband.” She sat back down hesitantly, watching them do their job. The entire time, Eren stayed silent as the doctors did whatever they had to do. Afterward, the doctor clicked his pen and looked at the boy.

“Kruger, what is the last thing you remember?” He scrunched his face in thought, attempting to remember what little he could.

“I was looking at the suspects, right?” The doctor nodded, humming a confirmation.

“Okay. In summary, you went into shock after pointing out one of the specific victims. He is currently being held in custody so you are complete-” The memories flooded Eren’s brain, causing his heart monitor to begin beeping rapidly. The doctor shot forward, laying a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder, “Kruger, you are safe here. In a week, you will identify another suspect being held in custody, okay? You will have enough time to recover from this, all you need to know now is that you’re safe and he can’t hurt you here, okay?” Eren nodded, sinking down into the rough pillows against his back.

Afterward, the doctor left, leaving his parents to rush to his side.

“You are so strong, baby,” His mom kissed his head and petted at his hair as she laid beside him. Her warmth and familiar comfort was nice to lean into, like his own little world inside the room. His dad pat his leg gruffly, nodding his head.

“We are very proud of you, son. You’ve done very well.”

The next few days were boring as Eren was in holding in order to make sure that he didn’t fall back into it in case of a bad nightmare or daydream. His third day, Wednesday, was easy enough until one day a knock sounded from his doorframe. He glanced away from his beloved, Guy Fieri, on the provided hospital TV to see a head of blonde hair. The boy let out an embarrassing gasp as he laid his eyes upon Armin, who nervously stood against the frame of the doorway holding flowers, a teddy bear, and a card.

“Uh- can I come in?” Eren nodded his head eagerly, watching Armin gently place down the flowers and teddy bear on his bedside before turning to sit in the chairs. The blonde halted when he heard a sound of protest, turning around to see Kruger scooting over and patting the bed next to him. Armin smiled, graciously taking the invitation and curling into Kruger’s side comfortably. 

Eren was stuffing his nose into Armin’s hair, breathing in the beautiful, familiar scent of citrus shampoo.

“Sorry for not being at school, I really did mean it when I said I’d see you there but I suppose my body had other plans…” The blonde beneath him chuckled, looking up at Kruger who had to lean his face back so they weren’t nose-to-nose. Armin took advantage of the closed space, feeling his heart race and stomach drop out of his ass when he surged forward and pressed his lips to Kruger’s.

“I wasn’t there on Monday either, so I guess we can both apologize.” Kruger laughed, pressing his lips back to Armin’s. It was here, Eren decided, that there was nothing better than innocent kisses. He loved the way he could easily press his lips against Armin’s now, no one-sided pining and no intent for further action, just a show of appreciation and like for one another. When they pulled away, Kruger brought his hand down to lightly press Armin’s face into his chest, cuddling them closer.

“My dads signed the card; they didn’t come, though, because they said they’d prefer to meet you for the first time over dinner or something and not in the hospital.” Another light giggle from Kruger.

“Make sure you tell them thank you for me,” Kruger was nuzzling his nose back into the top of Armin’s, “and thank you for coming to see me. I missed you.”

Armin sighed happily into Kruger’s chest. His right arm was lightly thrown around Kruger’s torso whilst he brought the other to grip at the collar of Kruger’s hospital gown. The day prior, Armin had walked to Kruger’s house to ask where he had been since they still had yet to exchange phone numbers, to which he discovered that Kruger had to be rushed to the hospital due to a severe panic attack, “I didn’t know you struggled so badly with anxiety, but I understand why you hadn’t told me yet and know that I can try to help you as much as I can,” the blonde reassured.

Eren nodded simply, thinking the cover story over.  _ Ah, _ so that’s what Pixis came up with. A panic attack. He chuckled oddly, falling back into his Kruger act, “Yeah, ever since I was thirteen. It happens here and again, but thank you.” Armin hummed a confirmation.

“I can probably come back to school next Wednesday, though, they’re gonna keep monitoring me.” To be fair, Eren didn’t actually know jackshit, but he was giving a few days of leeway in case he had a repeat of the week the next time he had to identify the suspect. Armin just nodded, tucking himself farther against Kruger (which seemed physically impossible at that point due to how close the two already were). 

“Life must be against us because I’m pretty sure I’m missing Thursday and Friday?”

A groan of protest sounded from the boy next to him, who just pulled Armin closer (seriously? How much closer could you possibly be?), “Are you kidding me? What could you possibly be doing?”

_ Breaking out the two main suspects of the hottest criminal case in Trost. _

“Oh, y’know, just helping my dads run the hotel. Did I ever tell you I’ll be the one to inherit the business?” 

Half-truths were always better than nothing at all.


	8. Family Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone!! i know this update is coming out quick in reg terms but to me it seems like it got out late oof. I've been having a lot of school stuff so yeah daily updates are gonna be kinda rough to do teehee but I'm trying hardest to get these chapter out teehee. okay that's it, onto chapter 8! <3

It was mid-February as of recently. Jean was casually tying his shoes and preparing for the trip.

_ “We should go on a weekend Valentine’s trip!” Sasha had suggested, clinging to her new boyfriend and wrapping another arm around Connie’s shoulder, who egged her on. The bald one and the hungry one cheered happily, chanting for a Valentine’s Day trip, but Niccolo wasn’t having any of it and Jean could tell. _

_ “Bug, I’m sure everyone wants to go on this trip, but Valentine's Day was last week...on Monday, “ It was Wednesday of the following week, “and where would we even go? We can’t afford hotel rooms and we can’t get them, either. We aren’t old enough.” _

_ The logical side of the group agreed, which was Marco, Jean, and Historia.  _

_ “My parents have a house up in Sina, if you guys want to go there. It’s meant to fit my whole family for holiday trips, we could skip Friday for the drive and leave Sunday?” Reiner was a recent addition to the group. He showed up one day after Eren, Mikasa, and Zeke’s disappearance. The group, after two weeks of no leads, had relatively given up, accepting that their friends had just transferred and cut them off completely. Jean wasn’t an angry person unless it was Eren, but in general, he was just pissed, hurt, confused. He, like everyone else, just wanted to know why they would up and abandon them like that. _

_ “Yes!! Please, guys?! We haven’t missed school this semester, I’m sure our parents would give us a pass!” Connie begged relentlessly, shooting across the table to grab at the collar of Jean’s shirt.  _

_ “Aw, c’mon Jean, it wouldn’t be so bad, right?” Bertholdt joined the same day as Reiner, along with Annie, who wasn’t speaking up. They weren’t even related either, but somehow they knew each other. Weird, huh? _

_ “Marcoooo!” Sasha was now hanging over Connie, and now Ymir, the upperclassmen who joined their group because she relentlessly pined over Historia, threw her arm around the blonde’s shoulders, trying to convince her to go. _

_ Clearly overpowered, they gave in. _

So Jean confidently finished tying his converse and hopped into his car, picked up Marco, and followed Sasha’s car and Reiner’s car all the way up to Sina. Therefore, that’s why Jean, Sasha, Connie, Marco, and Historia were now gaping mindlessly at Eren, Mikasa, and Zeke, who were standing across the clothing store in Sina.

“Are you guys seeing…” Connie trailed off, a soft sniffle was heard from Historia. Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Niccolo, and Ymir were still at Reiner’s house helping Niccolo prepare lunch while the rest were out getting anything extra they might need. It was a good thing, too, because although they were now friends of the group, they collectively thought that they didn’t want them there for the impromptu reunion. 

Mikasa was talking to Eren and Zeke, smiling and laughing. They were completely fine without them, and it hurt because they had spent so long looking for them and were still completely torn. Sasha was the first to break.

“Muh…  _ MIKASA _ !” She wailed, sprinting throughout the store. The group was frozen when the three Jaeger siblings turned around and caught sight of their group. Historia was the next to go, running over with tears streaming down their faces. Marco, Jean, and Connie tentatively walked forward, more pissed than anything. Jean could see it from here, the look of complete horror on the three siblings' faces.

Sasha and Historia crashed into Mikasa unceremoniously, causing the girl to fall backward on the ground but the other two didn’t let up. They laid on top of her and cried their eyes out, attracting the attention of the store. Cautiously, the three other boys approached the group. As they got closer, Jean could see Mikasa hugging back with the exact same fervor. Snapping out of his shocked state, Zeke quickly ran forward and pulled the girls apart, shushing them heavily. 

“ _ Jesus, fuck! Shut up- shut the hell up! Seriously Sasha, one more peep and you’re dead fucking meat! _ ” The blonde whispered harshly, causing all three girls to cease all actions. Mikasa sat up, wiping her joyous tears and looking up, terrified to hear footsteps approaching them.

“Hey, so I tried these on and- oh! Wait-  _ oh. OOOH! Oh my god, hi!” _ In front of them was practically Historia’s male doppelganger. “Oh my god, what a coincidence!” The unfamiliar male laughed. The three Jaeger siblings looked scared, while the rest just felt confused. Jean scoffed inwardly, rolling his eyes.

_ Ashamed of us or something, Jaeger? _

The stranger stuck his hand out in greeting, “Hi, I’m Armin, Kruger’s…” he trailed off, “Kruger’s boyfriend! It’s really nice to meet you all so suddenly!”

Connie pulled a face, looking between his group and the others,  “Hi, nice to meet you too but uh, respectfully, who the fuck is Kruger?”

The blonde, Armin, laughed, “Oh I forgot you guys had nicknames for each other, I meant Eren!”

“Hey, Armin, how about let’s go pay and then we catch up, ok?” Zeke offered, guiding the boy to the register. He followed aimless, shouting a ‘be right back!’ before leaving. Once he was out of earshot, Jean rushed forward, grabbing Eren by the collar.

“Kruger?! Who the fuck is Kruger, Jaeger?” Eren’s eyes went wide and he surveyed the store to make sure no one heard.

“ _ Jean! I need you to shut the fuck up before I legitimately beat your ass! Let us explain!”  _ He whispered, continuing to look around shakily, “ _ They could hear us!” _

Jean dropped the boy’s collar immediately, leaning in, “Who? Who could be watching us, Eren? What’s wrong?”

The rest of the group came closer together as Eren and Mikasa looked around, panicked. 

“I just- please call me Kruger, call Mikasa Zoe, and call Zeke Jason for now, okay? Around Armin, at least. I’m begging you, Jean.” Everyone couldn’t remember the last time they had heard Eren call Jean by his legitimate name, so they knew it was serious.

“Listen,” Eren whispered, barely audible, “we got placed under the Witness Protection Program, we had to move and cut off all contact. We have new names, and once you get back, you have to pretend this never happened, okay? I’m breaking rules right now telling you all this, but if Armin asks you can’t say anything about Trost, okay? Just make up something-”

“You guys ready to go?” They all turned around, seeing Zeke and Armin with shopping bags in hand.

“When’s the last time you’ve all seen each other? If you guys are free, we should all go out to lunch!” Armin beamed and Eren smiled softly at the boy, who is now his boyfriend, he guesses. They never made it official, but hearing Armin say it earlier made him happy. Shakily, Eren turned to all of his old friends, whose jaws were dropped in disbelief. It was too short of a time to process fully, but thankfully Connie never processed anything because he was a purebred idiot, so he was the first to speak up.

“Yeah, sure.”

-

“Hey Angel, can you go grab my jacket from the car, please?” Eren said to Armin, walking away from the cash register at the sandwich shop. His past friends were already sat down and patiently waited for the two (except Sasha, she was struggling with having to hold back from eating). Armin nodded sweetly, grabbing the keys from Eren’s back pocket and walking out after Eren grabbed his food.

Eren made his way to the table swiftly, sitting down and beckoning his friends to lean forward. He had so little time to clearly explain.

“Okay, listen. Remember my Scouts attack? Well- now they’re after me. They sent me a handwritten letter saying that they were going to kill me, so we all had to be put under Witness Security. You can’t use my real name, especially in public, so I’m Kruger, Mikasa is Zoe, and Zeke is Jason. Questions?” 

The table stayed silent.

“Kruger? You really got the luck of the fucking draw.” Jean said, picking up his sandwich and taking a bite whilst looking off into the distance.

The silence was heavy as they began to eat. Even the jittery Sasha was softly picking at her food, Connie trying to egg her on to eat something like the good friend he was. Mikasa noted this, hated it, and made the change, simply because she was a bad bitch like that,  “So, Jean, I see that the horse face still hasn’t gone away in the past month.”

Eren coughed on his food and choked on it for a good minute or two as laughs hesitantly escaped his throat. The two-toned boy whipped his head towards Mikasa.

“Jesus fuck, Mika-Zoe, you spend too much time with your brother.”

“Please Jean, you wish you had all this goodness,” Eren dropped his sandwich to jokingly rub down his body in a faux-seductive manner, which made the rest of the table giggle.

“Like I’d want to be some suicidal blockhead,” Jean rolled his eyes from across the table, throwing a fry randomly at Eren but to everyone’s surprise, the brunette actually caught the fry in his mouth, making the table cheer with delight. The other few customers on the balcony seating passed them a look and Armin finally came back to the car, jacket and keys in hand. He took his seat next to his (possibly?) boyfriend and began to munch on his own sandwich lightly. Thanks to Mikasa, the entire table was able to fall into comfortable conversation, even including Armin in it and getting to know him.

“So my question is why the  _ fuck _ did you choose Kruger? Honestly, I don’t think he showers on a daily basis- he probably has gooch gunk,” Connie jested, earning a smack to the back of the head by Historia. All the better, Armin laughed along and leaned into Kruger’s side.

“I don’t know, I guess his raging B.O. really just gets me going,” the blonde shot back, making Kruger gape at him and everyone else burst into giggles. Jason patted Armin on the back, saying something similar to, “Atta boy.”

“So what brings you guys out to Sina? That must be quite the drive from- ah, where was it you guys came from?”

The group looked around, panicked. They couldn’t say that they were from Trost, right? So what other cities were there- “We’re all from Stohess.” Kruger said. Marco gaped at the brunette, not recalling him to be such an easy liar on the fly. He really has changed somewhat in this past month.

“Oh, wow! That’s quite the drive- what, like, seven hours? Why so far?”

“It was our idea,” Connie wrapped a proud arm around Sasha, “we said we all deserved a Valentine’s Day vacation.”

Armin looked down, confused, “But wasn’t Valentine’s Day almost two weeks ago…”

“Oh, they know,” Historia leaned over to whisper into Armin’s ear, “but that trio, Connie, Sasha, and Jean? Yeah- they’re trouble when they get ideas.” The male blonde admired how flawlessly the nicknames dropped from Historia’s mouth. She wasn’t in the original photo, so he assumed she was just absent, but she seemed as close with them as the rest did. It made Armin continue to fawn over Kruger, the roleplay nicknames were just too cute!

Eren and Mikasa, on the other hand, looked at their group confused.

“Wait- since when do you guys have somewhere to stay out here? Did you guys get a hotel?” Mikasa asked, glancing around. 

“Oh, no!” Marco chuckled, taking a sip of his soda, “our friend Reiner has a vacation house out here, apparently, and it’s really big so it can fit all of us.”

“Wouldn’t he want to be out here, too?” Eren piped up, still trying to piece everything together.

“Well, they are,” Historia said, wiping her mouth. “We have a few new friends since you transferred out, but they’re really chill and I think you’d like them.”

Armin was seeing red at the corners of his visions. He hoped he wasn’t shaking too visibly, but he couldn’t do it.

“Min, you okay?” Kruger distracted him. Armin lifted his head, shaking it. It couldn’t be them, because they got deported to Trost, not Stohess. Also, he was in his 20’s, how could they get him into a high school?

“Well, anyway,” Historia continued, “you four should come to ours after for dinner or something to meet them. Sasha even has a boyfriend now,” the blonde giggled, making Zoe gasp and throw her hands out across the table, grasping Sasha’s.

“Oh. my. GOD! Hisu, is he cute?” Sasha was blushing hard and Historia eagerly nodded her head, “Uh huh! And he cooks, he’s planning on going to culinary school!” The two girls squealed happily for Sasha while Historia continued her introduction. “Yeah, so there’s Niccolo, my friend Ymir, and then Bertholdt, Reiner, and Annie. They kinda just joined our group because they all joined our school like, the day after you guys transferred out.” The girl shrugged mildly.

“Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie?” Armin said shakily, looking down, “What are their last names?”

The group across from them shrugged, “I think Reiner’s is like, Brown or something? Braun? I don’t know Bertholdt’s, but Annie’s in Leonhart, I know that for sure,” Connie offered, stealing a fry off of Jean’s plate and causing them both to get into a momentary brawl, but Armin ignored it, lifting his head and putting on a sweet smile.

“I’d love to have dinner with you guys. Is it okay if we do that, guys?”

As if Eren could say no to his Angel’s smile.

-

Reiner pulled Bertholdt by his sleeve into the kitchen, hiding from sight.

“I think I just shit my pants.”

“Excuse me, what?”

Reiner glanced hurriedly around the corner to confirm his suspicions, seeing what he needed to see and nodding his head in Bertholdt’s direction.

“My pants? Hella shit, dude. Everywhere. It’s like brown Niagara falls in my poor little Fruit of the Looms.”

Bertholdt gagged lightly, “Please tell me you’re fucking joking.”

Reiner nodded, “I am, but it feels like I’m about to shit myself because Boss’ son is right-fucking-there.”

Eyes wide, Bertholdt glanced around the corner. The mushroom bob was faced away from them as the group the boy came with introduced themselves to Ymir and Niccolo, but it was too recognizable and distinct to be someone else. Bertholdt turned back to his friend, terrified.

“Hey, Reiner?”

“What?”

“I think I just shit my pants.”


	9. Eren? Spelled E-R-E-N?

“Oh my god! Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie! I had a feeling it was you guys!” Armin said cheerily, facing the three who stood in the kitchen. They each had weak smiles plastered on their faces as Armin faced them. The rest of the group was behind him, unable to see Armin’s face except the three in front of him, and the blonde’s face was contorted into something stemming from pure hell. His left eye twitched rapidly as he held out his arms in a greeting hug, the boy had even the 6ft tall recruit in front of him shivering in fear.

“O-Oh, Armin! God- it’s been a while!” Annie said, a soft smile on her lips. Armin knew that she was his favorite recruit for a reason. The girl came forward, showing an uncharacteristic amount of kindness and affection as she wrapped her arms around Armin. 

_ “Welcome aboard the mission, Boss. You’ve made this ten times easier.” _ She whispered quietly in his ears, taking a glance at Eren Jaeger behind Armin’s shoulder. All they needed to do was bring him in, and they would be full-fledged Scouts, but they couldn’t get the additional group in the house involved in the dirty work- they didn’t deserve that.

Armin nodded, letting her go, and giving Bertholdt and Reiner a quick handshake. He turned to the group, returning to Kruger’s side and slipping his hand into his boyfriend’s. 

“Wait, you guys know each other?” Kruger turned to him, confused. Armin laughed, leaning on his shoulder.

“Yes! We all used to go to school together but they transferred out of Sina, I didn’t know that you guys got transferred out to Stohess!” Armin laughed kindly, upping his act which everyone else but the three in front of him was totally buying, “I thought you guys moved out to  _ Trost! _ ” Everyone else missed the grit in Armin’s teeth, but the trio sure as hell didn’t. How could they? He sounded like a contorted, evil mix of the Boss and his Second-hand at the same time. Granted, he’s their son so it’s expected, but it still was terrifying to hear so up close and personal. They’d only ever seen Armin in their recruiting phase, as he led demonstrations and helped with gun handling as well as hand-to-hand combat, so seeing him as a regular person was very new. They were used to the boy who wore basketball shorts and a fitted black t-shirt, hair tied back and firing his custom pistol flawlessly at targets, not this soft boy who was clinging to the side of their targets.

“Wait, but we did move out to Tr-”

“Yeah, funny how things work, huh?” Jean cut Reiner off immediately, giving the man a discreet and hurried wink. Reiner looked confused, didn’t Armin know? He took another look towards the blonde who was cuddled into their objective’s side. No sign of malintent, no sign of any act of violence. In fact, they almost seemed  _ too  _ close.

If Reiner could, he would laugh. Wow! Armin was such a good actor because the blonde obviously must know that the brunette boy he was next to was the survivor, right?

“Well, dinner’s almost ready, so everyone find a spot!” Niccolo said, breaking the silence. Sasha bounded to the kitchen behind him, gripping his shoulders happily. Historia stayed glued to Ymir’s side, Armin wasn’t sure if it was out of her own will or Ymir’s persistence, but that didn’t matter because now, Reiner and Bertholdt left to set out dinner.

“Annie, can you show me the restroom please?” He asked kindly, letting go of Kruger’s hand.

“Yeah, sure.” The girl gulped, guiding him down a long hallway and out of ear-shot.

Once they were out of sight as well, Armin raised his right forearm and pinned Annie against the wall by her chest. Her breath hitched, eyes going wide, “What are you three doing here? You are all full-grown adults, what’re the means to be in high school? Drop out or something?”

Under the muscle of his arm, he felt Annie’s nervous gulp. She thought about it for a minute, pondering her words.    
  
“We got sent there to track the survivor and get info from his old friends-”

“-okay, but that doesn’t explain why you’re in Stohess when that minuscule bug lived in  _ Trost!” _ Armin’s voice was at a murderous octave. In the worst sense possible, he and Annie were nose to nose, forcing her to be unable to look away. She grimaced, “We were located in Trost! I don’t know why they said Stohess!”

Armin’s grip loosened up. Why had Kruger lied to him? Annie broke free of his grip, still standing in front of him.

“What’s wrong, Boss?”

“My boyfriend lied to me… I don’t know why he said you guys were from Stohess,” Armin scratched his head, trying to find answers while Annie just gasped.

“Your boyfriend, you mean the brown-haired guy out there?!” Armin gave her a look.

“Did you not see us holding hands? What- did it just look like two guys being best friends? Of course, he’s my boyfriend,” He rolled his eyes, plucking out his phone from his back pocket and shoving it in her direction, “I have something I need your help on, and you three are unfortunately promising. Put your number in and I’ll text you an address. Meet me and Hanji there at 11pm  _ sharp _ unless you want to lose your fingers.” Hurried, she took his open phone and put in her contact.

The day Annie got recruited to help capture the survivor, she arrived at Erwin’s door a good five minutes before Bert or Reiner did. Unaware if she should enter alone or not, she pressed her ear to the door.

_ “Levi, he’s getting restless. He wants to help.” _

_ “Hey Erwin, look in my hand, what do you see?” _

_ “Uh...nothing?” _

_ “Oh god, really?! Because I was showing the number of fucks I give!”  _ Annie couldn’t help but laugh at the sarcasm that dripped out of her superior’s tone towards his husband. It was nice to hear them as normal people interacting, but was it true? Were they really leaving Armin, the heir of the Scouts, out of the operation?

The answer was just confirmed to Annie that yes, they did, because if he wasn’t, then he would know why they were with the group. He would’ve known that they were stationed in Trost, and not Stohess, and most of all, he would know that his boyfriend is the person who needed to soon be six feet under the ground.

-

Dinner went by without a hitch, but the three didn’t miss the close interactions between Eren and Armin. Whether it was a joke, a look, Eren’s hand on the other’s thigh, vice versa. They left soon after, leaving the group to clean.

Fuck, Annie didn’t usually sympathize for anyone, but what Armin was about to go through fucking sucked.

At 11pm, Annie announced that she wanted ice cream. Everyone cheered at her out-of-the-ordinary suggestion, telling her each ice cream they wanted. She wrote it all down in a note, telling Bert and Reiner to come with her, and that’s how the three adults were sitting alone at a park nearby, a street light being their only source of light.

Soon, a car’s headlights were seen in the distance. It rolled up, parked, and out came Hanij and Armin. On Hanji’s face was an unrecognizable seriousness as they approached, Armin’s face retained the same hardness it did when he and Annie were in the hallway. Wordlessly, they sat down across the table the three sat at.

“So,” the scientist started, “you guys got transferred out to capture the survivor. I hope you know that besides Erwin and Levi, you three are the only ones who know anything about plans regarding the survivor. Other than what is going on right now for you guys, there are no ulterior moves being made towards the police and they refuse to get anyone in the Scouts involved too heavily in case we are sought out.” The three nodded in understanding.

“As heir of the Scouts, I refused to be motionless in a time as pressing as this so I decided to take action without the knowledge of your guys’ mission. For that, I apologize but half the work is already done,” Bertholdt shot a confused glance, which Armin caught.

“The police haven’t released any official statements yet and there hasn’t been any news coverage, but on Thursday, Hanji, Moblit, Miche, and I drove down to Trost. We got help from a previous source, Onyankopon, last minute so we were able to break Floch and Louise out from holding on Friday night at Trost PD.” The blonde stopped, taking a breath. Silence was heard back, meaning there were no questions.

“Currently, Floch and Louise are being held at Hanji’s apartment under the security of Moblit and Miche, so they will not get out. All that’s left to do is capture the survivor since Floch and Louise claimed they didn’t give any info to the police during interrogation. So, that covers their tracks and they’ll be keeping low for the remainder of the year while the case dies down. Meanwhile, we have yet to find the survivor. Honestly, we don’t even know his name or what he looks like, I just know that the last name is ‘Jaeger’.”

Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie’s mouths hung wide open. Armin made a face at them, confused, “What?”

“Boss, if I could have permission to retrieve our information file from the glovebox of our car?” Bertholdt said shakily. Armin reached a hand behind his back, digging into the back of his jeans and pulling out his signature pistol. The blue diamonds along the handle gave an evil glint to the three across from him. 

“Okay, go. But, if I see any funny business, you’re a goner.”

Bertholdt nodded hastily, getting up and making the short walk to the car. Armin stood up, keeping his aim set on Bertholdt, while Hanji had their own gun retrieved and pointed at Reiner and Annie in case they tried an assault while Armin’s back was turned. In a matter of minutes, the man came back with a file in hand. He tossed it across the table in the direction of Armin. The blonde put his gun back, eyes glossing over the vanilla file. This was it, one flick of the hand and he would finally know all of the information about the one person who has made his family’s life a living hell, the one person who haunts Armin’s dreams and whose blood he longed to have splattered on his hands.

Just as he was about to flip it open, he heard Annie begin to speak.

“That is all the information we have on...Eren Jaeger.” The blonde’s hand froze. His eyes stayed trained on the folder, not daring to glance up as he spoke next.

“Eren, spelled E-R-E-N?” He asked lowly. The tone made Annie nearly piss her pants.

“Yes, Eren, E-R-E-N Alexander Jaeger.” The girl responded quietly. Armin flipped the folder open, taking a glance at the old yearbook photo of his boyfriend.

A single  _ ‘pat’ _ was heard, the sound of a single tear falling on paper. Reiner saw Armin’s hand slowly creep up, caressing the picture and stroking it.

_ “Eren fits you better, anyway,” _ Armin’s voice was barely heard as he croaked out a single sentence, no longer addressing anyone in the group but only the picture as if it were actually Eren.

The blonde’s hand froze and then closed the folder after a few long minutes. He looked up, face devoid of any trace of tears, and took the folder.

“You three are hereby relieved from your duties. I request that you drop out of Trost High School immediately and leave those poor kids alone, we already have what we need.” Armin said with finality. The three nodded, slowly getting up.

“You are excused,” said Hanji, “but if you peep a word of this to anyone, you won’t live to see another sunrise, do I make myself clear?”

Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt nodded hurriedly, rushing to their car to drive and grab the ice cream they promised everyone else. Armin and Hanji stayed behind, watching their car lights fade into the distance before Armin collapsed.

Hanji caught him, the boy pushing his face into their chest in a terrible attempt to hide from the world. The pained screaming echoed in the silent park, only halting for Armin to catch his breath. The scientist whispered words of comfort into his ear as the breakdown ensued, their own heart aching for the poor boy.

_ ‘It’s okay, Minnie, everything’s going to be okay…’ ‘Sh… he’s still here with us, it’s okay.’ _

“It’s not okay, Hanji!” Armin yelled, snot dripping down his nose in an ugly manner. He punched the ground repeatedly, yelling ‘ _ why’ _ until his fist hurt. Hanji grabbed his hand, forcing him to stop.

“Armin, ARMIN! Stop it! You still have a choice here, okay? You don’t have to go through with this,” they said softly, petting the poor boy’s hair.

“What choice do I have, Hanji? It’s either my dads or him, I can’t-” he sniffled, only to fall back into a heap of tears.

“Why don’t you just tell him the truth, Armin? You two can work together to get through this-”

“ _ NO!  _ Krug- Eren… Eren always does what he thinks is right. He won’t stray from the law just for me, I’m  _ just  _ me. We’ve barely been together for a week, have known each other for a month, and here I am- crying like he’s my damn soulmate! I don’t deserve to cry, I don’t deserve him! He’s been nothing but good to me, lying for a good reason- Hanji, I lied to him because we are  _ bad people!” _ He felt as if his own father said those words, not him. He continued to sob pathetically on his knees until a headache replaced the wetness. Each hiccup resulted in a terrible bang in his head, causing him to halt his tears. Hanji held him close, rocking the boy back and forth and the warmth they radiated was a temporary fix for the ache.

“You don’t have to kill him, Armin, you still have a choice.”

Did he, really?

-

“Armin won’t answer any of my texts or calls!” Eren huffed angrily, tossing his phone on the bed and narrowly missing his brother.

“Jesus fuck, Eren! Watch where you’re throwing?”

“Sorry,” the younger Jaeger offered weakly, getting on the bed next to his brother and booting up their shared console that was in Zeke’s room.

Both brothers shared a love for Call of Duty, which they passed along to their adopted sister. Soon after, Mikasa joined them in Zeke’s room, squishing in between the two. One round when Eren was sucking terribly, Mikasa stole the controller and was able to climb Eren to first place, going from a meek 45 kills to 101 in the short amount of time that was left.

“Yeah, how does it feel to get owned by my little sister, you fucking pansies?” Zeke said into his mic, causing his two younger siblings to laugh and make him smile. 

“Oh shut up, Marcel, Zoe would own you in real life more than she would on COD, you’re lucky to be spared,” Zeke said next to them, making them both giggle.

“Can I talk to them?” Mikasa asked lightly, but of course, Zeke nodded, “Hey guys, Zoe is going to talk to you guys,” he gently helped put the headset on his little sister. She adjusted the mic, hearing two voices on the other end. She heard Colt, who Zeke often called Grice, and another voice she didn’t recognize.

“Hello?” She said meekly.

“Oh, hey, Zoe.” She heard Grice say.

“Hi Zoe! My name is Marcel! I don’t think we’ve met!” She heard a chipper voice on the other line, sounding like a leadership type of person.

“Hi…” She said softly, easily gunning down someone, “who did I just kill?”

“Ah, that was me!” Marcel said, laughing.

“Step up your game, weakling,” Mikasa said darkly into the microphone, tone dropping to an intimidating level.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Zeke said whilst in the middle of immediately taking the headset off Mikasa, hearing Grice’s loud cackles coming from the earmuffs while Marcel grumbled something indecipherable. It was Sunday of the same week which is always a good day for Jaeger siblings. It was family day, meaning no fake identities or life-threatening gangs could touch them while they were all piled in Zeke’s room, just playing COD and being siblings. Well, that was until the door abruptly burst open, revealing Pixis, Carla, and Grisha.

“Zeke, turn the game off,” Carla said, fear haunting her voice. Immediately, Zeke shot forward and shut the game off, turning to his parents. Both of his younger siblings, despite being sixteen, still cowered to each of his sides. Protectively in an older brother fashion, he wrapped his arm around both kids, “Mom, Dad, Pixis- what’s wrong?”

Pixis walked forward in front of both parents, dressed in casual clothes and clearly called in to their household last minute.

“Eren, I’m sorry to tell you all this, but on Friday night, the Scouts attacked the Trost Police Department. They bombed the building, and we finally were able to confirm a headcount of inmates who were there in custody. I’m sorry to say...but it was just confirmed that your attackers were broken out and we have no clue on their whereabouts. Due to this, we are relocating you and your family.”

Fuck.


End file.
